nuclear-news

30 years later, today’s road workers affected by radioactive spill

 Workers sick amid highway radiation scare http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-18/radioactive-discovery-halts-pacific-hwy-upgrade/3957168 April 18, 2012   Road workers were sent for medical treatment after vomiting when suspected nuclear material was unearthed during work on an upgrade to the Pacific Highway on the mid-north coast of New South Wales The materials, which include caesium, were buried north of Port Macquarie after a truck carrying radioactive isotopes from Sydney’s Lucas Heights nuclear reactor crashed in the area in 1980.

The isotopes were being taken to Brisbane, before being shipped to the United States. The upgrade’s project manager, Bob Higgins, says road workers fell ill after unearthing a strange clay-like material.

“As we’ve taken down the cutting there we exposed the face of the existing material (and) came across a clay material that when it’s exposed to air it gets an orange streak through it,” he said. ”There were a number of workers that felt a little bit of nausea and there was a bit of vomiting when they were in close proximity. ”[They went] off to the doctor, but obviously we need to be extremely careful here.”

The Environmental Impact Statement for the highway upgrade had noted some uncertainty about where exactly the containers were buried. Specialists are in the area assessing what to do with the radioactive materials, and if they pose any risk.

Let the Facts Speak: 1980, December 4 PORT MACQUARIE, AUSTRALIA

An accident near Port Macquarie involved a truck carrying a 60-litre drum labelled ‘danger radioactive – Americium 241′, plus a smaller container labeled ‘Caesium 137′ and foodstuffs. When Sydney police called the Atomic Energy Commission at Lucas Heights for advice, they were told to call back later ‘when the AEC opens’. Dr. John McKay of Port Macquarie claimed that 16 people who attended the accident are suffering from symptoms of radioactive poisoning.

Dr. McKay has accused the AEC of a cover-up regarding the dangers of the accident, and has claimed that this lack of concern may endanger the 8,000 people in nearby Laurieton if radiation poisons the town’s water supply. The NSW Minister for Public Health accused Dr. McKay of ‘causing public mischief’. The Minister said the Health Commission report had found that, although the protective containers of the radioactive material were damaged, both were considered to be safe with no spillage or leakage of radioactivity.
Sydney Morning Herald – 16 April 1981; Canberra Times – 11 March 1981; WISE Vol.3 No.3 June/July 1981 p.16; Canberra Times – 11 March 1981

April 18, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, incidents