(September 14, 1990) The sixth shipment of uranium from Roxby Downs/Olympic Dam in South Australia arrived at Port Adelaide at 1:15 am on 8 August to be met by 70 anti-nuclear demonstrators blockading its path. One woman sustained a fractured arm when the police threw her onto her shoulder. All shipments have been met by blockades on the road into the port, despite the early hours.
(338.3383) WISE Glen Aplin - This shipment, the third this year, contained 24 containers of 350 tonnes of uranium and was on its way to the UK, Sweden, South Korea and Japan on the Dutch ship 'Poolgracht'. It is known that shipments to the UK go via Rotterdam, Holland through Felixstowe, where it is then taken to the Springfields uranium enrichment plant in Cheshire, run by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. Uranium bound for Japan also goes there first for enrichment.
The mine owners, British Petroleum (49%) and Western Mining Corporation of Australia (51%), refuse to grant compensation to the Aboriginal caretakers of the land - the Kokotha people - for sacred sites already destroyed in the mines development, nor will they guarantee the safety of any others.
There have been increasing fears over the risks to the health of the workforce and the surrounding environment. At the beginning of the year Dr. Dennis Matthews of Flinders University resigned from the South Australian Radiation Protection Authority in frustration over safety levels allowed for the workforce.
A 10-day tour of Roxby and surrounding areas, including a consultation with the Aboriginal people effected, is being organized by the Movement Against Uranium Mining (MAUM) and Friends of the Earth in Melbourne, to start on 24 September.
Note: For those who can used this information, here are the container numbers of the shipment of uranium on the ship 'Poolgracht':
7165247; 3978291; 7207506; 7200306; 7118420; 4313182; 7144075; 7197877; 3367311; 4660474; 3419040; 7208950; 9045913; 3398992 or 3390992; 3533496; 4661146; 3383821; 7139720; 7213263; 4661110; 7147201; 3630747; 9042278; 3317706.
Sources:
- Women Working for a Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific, 29 Aug.
- Adelaide Advertiser, with thanks to Silver.
Contact: MAUM, Environment Centre, 245-7 Flinders Lane, Melbourne 3000, Australia, tel: (03) 650 5252
Bristol NFIP, c/o 82 Coiston Street, Bristol 851 5bb, UK, tel: (0272) 631162 or 541524.