AU - Uranium mine 'must close' for inquiry

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ADELAIDE: The Beverley uranium mine in South Australia must close until an independent inquiry was held into a 60,000-litre spill of radioactive liquid, federal and state politicians said yesterday.

As the Australian Democrats said they smelt "a cover up", a computer error was blamed yesterday for the spill. Heathgate Resources said a computer kept radioactive liquid flowing into the mine's processing plant when it was in non-production mode, as it currently was.

But a computer glitch caused a build-up of the liquid in a pipe, which burst and sent the material flowing into spillage areas at the mine, about 600km north of Adelaide.

"We're not sure precisely why, but the computer shut down the plant but it didn't shut down the flow of material into the plant. That's what caused the pressure build-up in the pipe and its eventual failure," company spokesman Stephen Middleton said yesterday.

Radiation measurements in the plant immediately after the spill were marginally above normal background levels, he said. "It wasn't a catastrophe in environmental or worker safety terms," he said.

The company was staging an investigation into the spill as the federal Opposition joined a chorus of SA politicians yesterday to call for an independent inquiry. Opposition environment spokesman Kelvin Thomson said it was deeply concerning that the Government had left SA to deal with the spill.

"The Commonwealth . . . can and should intervene in serious threats to the environment such as the spill at Beverley," Mr Thomson said in a statement. "It's no use having a federal Minister flick-passing the issue back to the states when the Minister, under Commonwealth legislation, has the power to do something about it.

"This mine should be shut down immediately until a complete independent investigation can be carried out."

The SA Opposition and Australian Democrats also called for an independent probe when they gathered at an anti-uranium mine rally at Parliament House in Adelaide. Democrats mines spokeswoman Sandra Kanck said, "The public has a right to know precisely what environmental damage occurred.

"There is a smell of a cover-up involving an incident at a uranium mine."

SA Opposition environment and natural resources spokesman John Hill said mining should not continue at Beverley until it was certain the mine was safe. Inspectors from the Radiation Protection Branch, the Department of Mines and the Health Commission have inspected the site and were expected to report to the SA Government yesterday.

The Australian Workers Union was also attempting to gain access to the mine to determine its safety for employees.

Canberra Times

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

Answers

SA Government accused of cover-up


ADELAIDE: South Australia's Liberal Government was accused yesterday of long-term cover-ups and collusion with uranium-mining companies, as it stopped the Beverley mine from resuming full operation.

The Government's chief mines inspector, Greg Marshall, said he wanted several issues addressed before he would let normal operation resume at the mine, in the state's north.

Mr Marshall's report on a spill of about 60,000 litres of radioactive liquid from the mine last Friday said no environmental damage had occurred.

He also said no personnel had been exposed to a hazard when a computer error caused radioactive groundwater to build up in a pipe which burst and emitted the liquid.

The incident was one of 24 spills of radioactive liquid at the mine in the past two years, a revelation that prompted an angry response from the SA Nuclear Free Future Party.

Party candidate Cherie Hoyle said she was outraged at the Kerin Government's "long-term cover-ups and collusion" with uranium-mining companies.

"This is the same Government that wants to bring all the

nation's radioactive waste to our state," Ms Hoyle said. "How can we trust them to manage these issues?"

Mr Marshall found the latest spill had been contained within the processing plant's perimeter fence, except for a minor amount that flowed into a gutter along a nearby path.

He said issues that the mine operator, Heathgate Resources, must address included ensuring power supply to the main control system responsible for the pipe failure could not be interrupted.

The operator would also have to construct earthen barriers to prevent any processing fluids escaping beyond the perimeter fence.

Premier Rob Kerin said the public had "a right to know when things happen", despite Friday's spill not being revealed until at least 24 hours later.

He also said the 24 recent spills should be kept in context.

"The way some people understand it is this is 24 radioactive spills, that is not the case," he told ABC radio.

Heathgate Resources spokesman Stephen Middleton said the company was confident of returning to full production by the end of the week.

The Labor Party has accepted underdog status for a South Australian election on February 9 that Mr Kerin wants fought on economic grounds.

Mr Kerin, who leads Australia's last remaining Liberal state or territory government, called the poll yesterday.

This leaves 25 days for the election campaign the minimum allowed under state law.

Canberra Times

-- Anonymous, January 16, 2002


Software bug blamed in radioactive spill

SYDNEY, Australia--Amec Engineering, which designed the Beverly uranium processing plant in Western Australia, has blamed buggy software for a radioactive spill that occurred at the site last December, confirming early suspicions that computers played a role in the accident.

"After a detailed assessment of the incident it is now clear that the problem was caused by a computer programming error that has since been corrected," said Stephen Middleton, spokesman for the plant's operator, Heathgate Resources.

According to Amec's report, the glitch cut power to the plant's fluid-distribution control system during a routine service exercise. At the time, the mechanism should have shut down pumps moving fluid into the plant.

"Before they could be shut down manually, pressure built up in the pipelines leading into the plant and one ruptured," Middleton said.

According to Middleton, Amec has re-examined the entire system, retested the plant's pipes and corrected the "computer logic error." He refused to name the software technology responsible for the error.

CNET News

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002


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