Oh what fun indeed! Looks like the kids and their parents will be the first people in the world to learn how "radioactive waste is safely managed ". I mean - the rest of the world hasn't found out this secret yet. It must be that the nuclear engineers at Lucas Heights are guarding this secret. I'd feel a little more confident of the integrity of this "Free educational tour", if the guides included some ecologists from the ACF or WWF. It all sounds awfully like just another desperate bit of pro-nuke SPIN

After the tour maybe the kids can follow up with a trip to Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary in the Flinders Ranges, where Marathon Resources was recently found guilty of dumping more than 20,000 bags of low level radiation in the park...then, time permitting..a trip west to Roxby Downs where Greens MP Mark Parnell has discovered workers are subject to unsafe level of radiation...the mine uses in excess of 30,000 million litres of artesian aquifer water per day...how many olympic swimming pools will that fill kids? First to answer will be given a geiger counter to measure gamma ray activity from the sun or nuclear waste dump sites like Maralinga...fun science times for the kids :)

Perhaps the parents of these children would appreciate being informed of the research and development underway into uranium enrichment using lasers at the Lucas Heights facility by Silex Systems. Or that such activity was classified "Restricted Data" by the US and Australian governments due to nuclear proliferation risks (see also Iran). ABC 7.30 Report 09/12/2004: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/conten t/2004/s1261870.htm "You can't separate the two because if you can enrich uranium up to 5 per cent or so needed for nuclear power reactors then by putting it through the system time and again, you can get it up to the 93 per cent needed for nuclear weapons and therefore it's a dual purpose technology, usable for both purposes". - Dr Frank Barnaby, former British Atomic Weapons Establishment physicist describing the secretive Silex laser uranium enrichment program at Lucas Heights, Sydney.

Don't be fooled by the Nuke 'greenwash'. Nuclear reactors are an expensive, toxic, and dangerous way of supplying energy. Before Climate Change was proven, Aussies happily limited the heavily subsidized, toxic for 10,000's of years, potential terrorist threat that is Uranium to Lucas Heights. Now nuclear is being advertised as a transition source by certain corporations and politicians, along with potential 'clean coal', when we must focus our limited research and develop subsidies into energy efficiency and the inevitable sustainable energy sources immediately.

The kinds of concerns and fears raised here are exactly why ANSTO holds tours - in a bid to educate people about what it does. Questions about nuclear and any other concerns can also be answered by people in the know. Please also note that Silex has now moved to the United States and had no direct relationship with ANSTO. If you have any questions or concerns you'd like to raise please email inquiries@ansto.gov.au. Regards Sharon Kelly Media Relations Manager

Apologies I made an error in the email address it should be: inquiries@ansto.gov.au Regards Sharon Kelly, Media Relations Manager

The fact remains that non-reactor radioisotope solutions exist for nuclear medicine (as is the case when the reactor is routinely shut down). However, even this excuse for the "national interest" purposes of the original HIFAR have suddenly been replaced with telling kids how the nuclear industry will help solve climate change?! Silex Systems is still listed on the ASX and yes is now in with the US nuclear industry. Funny, that.

The reason we learn about science is to understand how it can bring benefit to our lives and to others, and to ensure that it is used properly. The knowledge and correct use of radiation science brings many benefits such as curing patients with aggressive cancer, an insight into the complex synergies in our environment and understanding the structure-function of important molecules. As a nuclear research facility (not a power reactor), ANSTO’s main goals are to benefit Australians in this way and to ensure that radiation science is used appropriately in Australia and for peaceful means in other countries. Why wouldn’t you want your children to learn about that?

Becasue the "national interest" has little to do with medical purposes, as admitted by PM Gorton when the original reactor and facility was established. Whereas some radiation treatments can certainly aid in diagnosis, most cancers are treated via surgery. My mother was one of them. Increasingly more within the medical profession agree that there is NO safe limit for additional human exposure to ionizing radiation. Investment in particle accelerator-produced radioisotopes, eliminating the wastes and nuclear proliferation risks inherent from every nuclear reactor (whether research or power) is a 21st century way forward. Perhaps you should conduct information sessions on just why the shield exists in an attempt to protect the reactor from known terrorism risks as well as the highly secret transports of spent nuclear fuel through Lucas Heights. A $500mil+ taxpayer white elephant.

I had a PET scan last week, in that one scan I recieved more radiation than I have been exposed to in the past 6 years of working at ANSTO with radioactive waste. The scan was only for diagnosis, not for treatment. The technical methods for safe nuclear waste storage are understood, the only thing stopping them from being implemented is political will and scare mongering. Why are people more worried about radiation than chemical disasters? The chemicals can stay in the environment and cause a lot worse damage: dioxins, CFC's, heavy metals, etc. When someone dies in a mine or factory there is a short enquiry and work continues. ANSTO has a change of process and there is press coverage, a full enquiry and money unnecessarily spent. People need to get a bit of perspective.