Tag Archive: BHP Billiton; Olympic Dam

Radioactive Exposure Tour June 27 -July 8th 2015

The Radioactive Exposure Tour is a journey through Australia’s nuclear landscape. The Tour has exposed thousands of people to the realities of ‘radioactive racism’ and the environmental and social impacts of uranium mining, radioactive waste and nuclear expansion.

Run by Friends of the Earth, this year’s Tour will take place from Saturday June 27 to Wednesday July 8, 2015.

In 2014 we visited Muckaty Traditional Owners in the Northern Territory before their historic win, stopping a radioactive waste dump on their land. This year, we’re travelling to NSW in light of recent uranium exploration, and continuing on to South Australia.

Yellowcake Uranium oxide accident at Outer Harbor

Yellowcake uranium oxide is transported by truck from the Olympic Dam mine at Roxby Downs in South Australia, through Port Adelaide to the docks at Outer Harbor, to be loaded onto ships for export.  The yellowcake is packed inside sealed drums in a shipping container on the truck.

Early in the evening of Friday October 3rd 2014 an accident occurred at Outer Harbor.  When the shipping container was being unloaded from the truck it slipped and fell to the ground.  Emergency services were called, but as this was an accident involving dangerous goods and Outer Harbor didn’t have the facilities to open the container to check for spillage, the Environment Protection Agency was also called in to advise.  After checking the container with a geiger counter, the EPA determined that there was no radioactivity measurable outside the container.

Radioactive Exposure Tour April 2014

radioactive exposure

12 to 27 April 2014 to the heart of the nuclear industry and back!

Since the 1980s, the “Rad Tour” has taken thousands of people to the heart of the Australian nuclear industry, exposing the realities of “radioactive racism” and the environmental impacts of uranium mining.

In 2014, we’re going all the way to the NT to meet and support the Traditional Owners resisting a radioactive waste dump on their country. The Muckaty mob have been fighting the dump for over 7 years and are taking their challenge to the Federal Court in June 2014.

Travelling from Melbourne we’ll stop in Adelaide and Port Augusta, to meet some of the women involved in the Irati Wanti campaign and the Gugada Tent Embassy. At Woomera we’ll hear a history of the British atomic tests of the 50s and 60s from nuclear veteran and whistleblower Avon Hudson. We’ll travel through Kokatha and Arabunna country, visit the Olympic Dam uranium mine and spend time with Arabunna elder Uncle Kevin Buzzacott.

We’ll witness sunset over Lake Eyre and the unique and fragile ecosystems of the Mound Springs, which have been devastated by the colossal water usage of the Olympic Dam mine. As we continue north to Alice Springs we’ll stop by Pine Gap to consider the Australian government’s complicity in the US war-machine and the outdated notion of “extended nuclear deterrence”. We’ll meet more inspiring people with a long history opposing the nuclear industry and the NT Intervention in Alice Springs before continuing to Tennant Creek to support the Muckaty mob in their struggle against a radioactive waste dump.

Along the way participants will get to experience affinity groups, desert camping, vegetarian cooking and a temporary community. Not to mention some of the most stunning and ecologically significant environments in Australia. The 2014 Tour is longer than usual to account for the extra distance.… Read more >>