Karl Herchenroeder
RW Monitor
12/4/2015
French and Australian officials have reportedly given different classifications to 10 metric tons of radioactive waste aboard a ship scheduled to dock this week in Sydney. The BBC Shanghai is carrying the material back from France, where it underwent reprocessing.
While France has classified the cargo as high-level waste, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization has designated it as intermediate-level waste, according to an investigation by Greenpeace Australia Pacific. It is raising concerns that the Australian government’s lack of transparency concerning the storage of nuclear waste could severely impact long-term environmental health in the nation.
“The fact France has classified this as high-level waste should send alarm bells ringing about what is actually coming back to Australia,” said Emma Gibson, Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s head of programs, in a press release. “The French have significantly more experience in handling nuclear waste than Australia does. That the two countries could have such different views on how dangerous this nuclear waste is should be a huge concern.”
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization did not respond to a request for comment this week. But in a Twitter response to Greenpeace, the agency said, “According to an international standard established by [the International Atomic Energy Agency], the waste is classified as ‘intermediate level waste.’”
The Australian government is considering locations to build its first permanent storage site for low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste. Officials have narrowed the list of potential sites to six: Sallys Flat in New South Wales; Hale in the Northern Territory; Cortlinye, Pinkawillinie, and Barndioota, all in South Australia; and Oman Ama in Queensland.
The nuclear waste aboard BBC Shanghai was originally produced at the Lucas Heights nuclear research facility in New South Wales and sent to France in 2001. French state-owned group Areva conducted the reprocessing, which is the extraction of uranium and plutonium from nuclear waste. Greenpeace said its investigation shows the waste still contains quantities of plutonium. Greenpeace also has taken issue with the ship’s safety record, citing documents that show the vessel has been detained by three different countries – Australia, U.S., and Spain — in the past five years for safety deficiencies.
The Australian government is projected to spend AUS$30 million on repatriating and temporarily storing the waste at Lucas Heights, according to Greenpeace. The ship is scheduled to dock at Port Kembla on Saturday.
