Australian uranium spill angers greens

The ruptured pipe at the Beverley uranium mine

ADELAIDE, South Australia -- Australian environmental groups are calling for the closure of the Beverley uranium plant in South Australia after a 60,000-liter (13,300-gallon) radioactive fluid spill.

The remote desert plant, about 520 kilometers (300 miles) north of the city of Adelaide, has been shut down until a full inspection of the accident site has been completed.

The company which runs the plant, U.S.-based Heathgate Resources Ltd, and the South Australian State Government have both assured the public that there has not been any risk to workers, the public or the environment from the spill, which happened on Friday.

"Initial findings of the Radiation Protection Branch inspectors indicate that there has been no risk to workers, the public or the environment from the accident, and that most of the spill was contained within the mine site's evaporation ponds," South Australia's acting energy minister Rob Lucas said Monday.

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"Nevertheless, inspectors will continue to closely monitor remedial operations, including the repair of the affected area of the plant, with a final report to be submitted following the completion," he said.

"The mine is not currently in production mode and will not recommence until approvals are given," Lucas said.

The closest community to the mine is an Aboriginal settlement about 60 kilometers (37 miles) away, Heathgate vice president Stephen Middleton told Reuters Monday.

Inspectors from South Australia's Office of Minerals and Energy and the Radiation Protection Branch are currently inspecting the mine, which is not expected to resume production before the end of this week.

The Australian Conservation Foundation, an environmental group opposed to in situ uranium mining, said any move to restart the mine prior to any independent assessment of the accident would be unacceptable.

"At a minimum, mining at Beverley must be halted until there has been a detailed and independent assessment of what went wrong and what the impacts are," nuclear campaigner for the foundation Dave Sweeney said.

Heathgate's Middleton told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation measurements in the plant immediately after the spill found radiation to be only marginally above normal background levels.

"It wasn't a catastrophe in environmental or worker safety terms," he said.

The spill is believed to have been caused after a pipe ruptured after liquid kept flowing into the plant during a shutdown due to a computer error.

The Heathgate mine produces about 1,000 tonnes of raw uranium or "yellowcake" a year which is used in nuclear power plants in the United States and Japan, and is one of three such uranium mines in Australia.