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| Southeast Asia |
| Indonesia nuclear reactor plan is health risk to Australians |
| 2006-06-06 |
| A NUCLEAR reactor to be built in a part of Indonesia prone to earthquakes and volcanoes could pose serious health risks for thousands of people in northern Australia, researchers said today. Harmful substances released into the air in the event of an accident at the proposed nuclear plant on Java would take just days to reach Darwin and Kakadu National Park during summer months, according to Australian researchers. Clive Hamilton, director of left-wing think tank the Australia Institute, said the nuclear power plant would be built at the foot of Mt Muria on Java's north coast – an area of intense geological instability. When plans for a reactor at the site were first revealed in 1993, researchers at the Australian National University found a radiation leak at the plant could pose serious risks to people living in northern Australia, he said. Dr Hamilton today called on the Federal Government to hold an inquiry into the reactor's potential health risks to Australians. "Although the risks of a major accident are very low, a cloud of radiation blowing over northern Australia would pose a severe danger to public safety and would jeopardise the cattle industries over an enormous area," Dr Hamilton said in a statement. "The Federal Government should initiate an inquiry into the possible impacts and develop a contingency plan for such a situation." |
| Posted by:Oztralian |
| #2 Not so underpopulated, Cheddar. Australian population is pretty limited by water availability, unless you invest in very expensive desalinization plants and pump the stuff all across the continent. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-06-06 10:02 |
| #1 Damn right it could be a risk to their health. Especially if the fundies got control in Indoamnesia and went for the bomb. To some wars of territorial ambition may seem a thing of the past but for an underpopulated island continent with populous neighbors somebody in Canberra has to be thinking about such scenarios. |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2006-06-06 09:35 |