Friends of the Earth's Radioactive Exposure Tour will take place from Friday March 29 to Sunday April 7. These tours have exposed thousands of people first-hand to the realities of 'nuclear racism' and to the environmental impacts of the nuclear industry.
After travelling from Melbourne to Adelaide, the 'radtour' heads to Port Augusta to visit the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Then north to the SA desert, to visit BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam uranium mine at Roxby Downs, the largest uranium deposit in the world. While the expansion of Olympic Dam is currently shelved, the mine is still an environmental and social disaster and operates under extraordinary legislation that provides wide-ranging exemptions from the SA Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act, the Environment Protection Act, the Natural Resources Act and the Freedom of Information Act.
Then the radtour heads up to the Oodnadatta Track to watch sunset over Lake Eyre and to see the Mound Springs − oases which are fed by the underlying Great Artesian Basin and host unique flora and fauna. Sadly, some of the Mound Springs have been adversely effected or destroyed altogether by the massive water take for the Olympic Dam mine. The water is taken from Arabunna land and participants will spend time with Arabunna Elder Kevin Buzzacott, Co-President of the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance.
Maralinga veteran and whistle-blower Avon Hudson (also a Co-President of the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance) will talk to participants about the British nuclear bomb tests in Australia (and earlier in the trip Avon provides a fascinating tour of the Woomera missile park). Participants will also hear about Australia's current contribution to WMD proliferation risks. Australia's uranium exports have resulted in the production of 148 tonnes of plutonium — enough to build 15,000 nuclear weapons. The uranium mining companies sell uranium to nuclear weapons states, dictatorships, states refusing to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, states blocking progress on a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty, states with a history of secret nuclear weapons research, and states stockpiling 'civil' plutonium.
After stopping for a swim at Coward Springs, the radtour heads east to camp in the beautiful Gammon Ranges and visit the not-so-beautiful Beverley uranium mine operated by the notorious General Atomics. This mine uses the in-situ leach uranium mining method, which leaves underground aquifers polluted with a toxic cocktail of radionuclides, heavy metals and acid. The mine has an ugly history including police attacks against Adnyamathanha Traditional Owners and 'greenies' in May 2000 and the use of pepper spray on an 11 year old Adnyamathanha girl.
Participants will hear about the successful struggle to prevent uranium mining in the magnificent Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, camping nearby and in one of the beautiful gorges further south in the Flinders Ranges National Park.
If you're interested in joining in the 2013 Radioactive Exposure Tour, contact radexposuretour@gmail.com or call Gem on 0421 955 066. Information on Radioactive Exposure Tours in previous years is posted at foe.org.au/anti-nuclear/issues/oz/radtour
To learn more about the issues check out:
- Friends of the Earth www.foe.org.au/anti-nuclear
- Australian Nuclear Map australianmap.net
- Australian Nuclear Free Alliance www.anfa.org.au
- Beyond Nuclear Initiative beyondnuclearinitiative.com