An accident at Australia’s only nuclear reactor forced Prime Minister John Howard’s government onto the defensive on Thursday, with political opponents saying the incident highlighted the dangers of nuclear power.
Small amounts of radioactive gases escaped from a ruptured pipe at the Lucas Heights facility on the outskirts of Sydney last Thursday.
A worker was examined for radiation exposure, but was cleared and there was no threat to the surrounding area, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) said.
The Lucas Heights plant was built in 1958 and is used only for research and to produce radioactive material for medical and industrial purposes.
But the incident has proved an embarrassment for Howard’s government, which is trying to build support for nuclear power plants in Australia and last week announced a wide-ranging review of the industry.
For the opposition Labour Party, which opposes nuclear power, the incident was a timely boon.
”Accidents like this show that the community is right to be concerned about the safety of nuclear reactors,” said the party’s deputy leader Jenny Macklin.
”This accident is a stark reminder that things can go wrong with nuclear reactors.”
ANSTO said the pipe ruptured inside an area producing medical isotypes. It said small amounts of gases were released routinely and did not pose a threat to the public.
”The releases which occurred last Thursday evening were not outside the normal release pattern, were well within regulatory limits and could not be detected off-site,” the organisation said in a statement, adding the incident did not occur in a reactor and had ”nothing to do with reactor safety”.
Science Minister Julie Bishop accused Labour of ”deliberate scaremongering”.
”This is just a beat-up by Labour trying to deflect from the fact that we’re having an open debate on nuclear power,” she said. – AFP
