Nuclear Waste

Nuclear weapons test sites.

In South Australia nuclear weapons tests were carried out by the British from 1953 to 1963.

These tests led to the dispersal of radioactive materials into the air and soil.

The air borne material drifted across much of the Australian continent and radioactive fallout was detected in many areas including Adelaide.

Most of the radioactive fallout from the nuclear tests is so widely dispersed that it cannot be remedied. It has become part of the background ionizing radiation.

Some nuclear material was more confined. This material was mainly from  22 kg of plutonium and 8000 kg of depleted uranium that was blown up by conventional explosives rather than in a nuclear explosion.

Attempts were made by the Australian Government in 1998 to immobilize plutonium debris. A process called in situ vitrification was used. The waste was put into pits along with soil and other wastes. An electrical current was passed through the pits. This generated high temperatures, which caused the material to melt and fuse together in a glass-like mass.

The process was abandoned following an explosion in one of the pits being treated. Subsequently plutonium and other wastes in shallow unlined pits  were covered by 5 metre of landfill. The waste disposal project cost $108 million.

Less than a third of the plutonium used in the nuclear tests has been recovered. The rest remains dispersed into the biosphere as small, difficult to detect, particles. These particles are readily inhaled and ingested into the body where the aplha ionizing radiation is potentially carcinogenic. 120 sq km of land is still uninhabitable.
 

Greater technical detail can be found on this topic by searching through the listed briefing papers and education resources at http://www.ccsa.asn.au/nic/.

In this section - Nuclear Waste

• Sources and types
• Uranium mines
• Nuclear weapons test sites
• Lucas Heights
• Nuclear research and medicine
• Federal Government Plans