Radioactive Waste From Mine Found In Kakadu
The Age
Thursday January 16, 1992
Radioactive waste from the Ranger uranium mine has been detected in Kakadu National Park and radon from the mine has been measured at the Jabiru tourist centre.
The annual report by the body responsible for monitoring the environmental impact of mining in the Alligator River region, the Office of the Supervising Scientist, says that while the levels pose no threat to people, concentrations of uranium in water flowing into the surrounding park could reach levels high enough to affect the aquatic environment.
The report calls for an assessment of the environmental implications of the trend and a re-evaluation of mine water management.
``Ranger is now a mature mine; losses of contaminants to the environment are increasing and their presence is measurable in local water bodies and streams," it says.
While satisfied that higher than background concentrations of uranium, sulphate and magnesium in water flowing into the park ``would not have had a detectable effect on aquatic organisms and would cause no harm to humans", the office says the environmental challenge is to ensure that the dispersal of contaminants does not increase.
The report also reveals that radon gas and its by-products are now measurable at Jabiru, the park's tourist centre, eight kilometres from the mine. But it stresses that the exposure of Jabiru residents is very small.
Dr Glen Riley of the Office of the Supervising Scientist said yesterday that ``by and large the Ranger operation has been fairly clean for such a big mine and given the location in a severe climate".
Readings from the Magela Creek gauging station, one kilometre from the park boundary, show a deterioration in water quality since the mid-eighties and increases above base-line concentrations of uranium, sulphate and magnesium.
While none of these concentrations exceed the water standards, the report warns that ``if the degradation of water quality continues, the concentration of solutes in the water flowing into Kakadu National Park could reach levels where effects on aquatic organism might be expected. This is especially true for uranium".
The office is concerned at the possible effects of the land application technique used to dispose of waste water at Ranger, which involves the controlled release of contaminated water on to a 35-hectare plot where it bonds with the soil.
While deeming the land application technique acceptable, the office says it is inherently inferior to controlled release into Magela Creek. It says there has been a marked increase in the concentration of uranium in the irrigation water in recent years, largely due to Ranger's water-management system.
A spokeswoman for the Australian Conservation Foundation, Ms Sue Jackson, said Ranger's water release scheme was intolerable.
``This just underscores the inherent and unacceptable risk posed to areas of high conservation value by mining and particularly uranium mining. These problems have been occurring for many years and it has got to the stage where they can no longer be ignored." Leaders of the Jawoyn Aboriginal people are to discuss renewed speculation about the possibility of mining Coronation Hill in the Northern Territory, but are adamant that most of their community remain opposed.
Their talks coincide with conflicting signals from the Keating Government about whether it will reverse the ban on Coronation Hill, imposed last June.
© 1992 The Age
