Alan Parkinson is a mechanical and nuclear engineer who lives in
Canberra, Australia
Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city, and the eighth-largest Australian city b ...
. He is also a
whistleblower
Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...
who wrote the 2007 book, ''
Maralinga: Australia’s Nuclear Waste Cover-up'' which exposed deficiencies in the clean-up of the
British atomic bomb test site at Maralinga in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
.
Maralinga - Australia's nuclear waste cover-up
2 September 2007 (Audio File)
Maralinga clean-up
In 1993, Parkinson became the key person on the Maralinga clean-up project, representing the then federal Labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
government (through the Department of Primary Industry and Energy). By 1997, however, there was much cost-cutting involved in the project, and differences of opinion about how the project should proceed, which led to the sacking of Parkinson by the new Howard government
The Howard government refers to the Government of Australia, federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard between 11 March 1996 and 3 December 2007. It was made up of members of the Liberal Party of Australia, Li ...
.[ Maralinga's nuclear nightmare continues]
, 2 November 2007, By Phil Shannon, Green Left Weekly issue 730
The clean-up, which involved simply burying untreated long-lived radioactive debris in holes in the ground, was totally unsatisfactory according to Parkinson. He exposed the situation through the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...
, provoking a strong rebuttal from the government, composed of scientific distortion and personal abuse.[
The plan was to collect some of the contaminated soil and bury that soil in a specially prepared trench 15 metres deep. Several thousand tonnes of debris contaminated with plutonium was to be treated by a process of in situ vitrification. After collection and burial of the soil, the project moved to the second phase - the treatment of 21 pits by vitrification. Against the advice of Parkinson, the government department extended the contract of the project manager, even though that company had no knowledge of the complex process of vitrification. At that stage Parkinson was removed from the project. The government and the project manager then embarked on a hybrid scheme in which some pits would be exhumed and others treated by vitrification. After successfully treating 12 pits, there was an unlucky thirteenth during which something in the pit exploded and severely damaged the equipment. The government then cancelled the vitrification and simply exhumed the remaining pits, placed the debris in a shallow pit and covered it with clean soil.
]
See also
*Anti-nuclear movement in Australia
Nuclear weapons testing, uranium mining and export, and nuclear power have often been the subject of public debate in Australia, and the anti-nuclear movement in Australia has a long history. Its origins date back to the 1972–1973 debate ove ...
*List of nuclear whistleblowers
There have been a number of nuclear whistleblowers, often nuclear engineers, who have identified safety concerns about nuclear power and nuclear weapons production. That list is partial and non-exhaustive.
List
Other nuclear whistleblowers
* Ch ...
*Avon Hudson
Avon Hudson (born 1937) is a South Australian RAAF ex-serviceman, nuclear weapons testing whistle-blower and co-author of the 2005 book '' Beyond Belief'' which he wrote with academic and historian, Roger Cross. He has appeared in several documen ...
References
External links
Nuclear Power - Rational or Irrational?
30 October 200 (Audio)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkinson, Alan
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Australian engineers
Nuclear engineers
Australian whistleblowers
Nuclear technology in Australia