July 22, 2010 - Today’s press release from Norman Moore regarding radioactive sites at Lake Way indicated a comprehensive lack of radiation knowledge and of the Lake Way area, Greens MLC Robin Chapple said.
Mr. Chapple said that Mr. Moore’s claims that radiation at the site did not exceed one microSievert (uSv) per hour indicated that Department of Mines and Petroleum officers did not inspect the location he had visited.
“I am more than happy to provide the coordinates of the site and to Mr. Moore [Lat. -26.700660 Long 120.325040] and to conduct DMP officers to the site I have identified. That said, I do not feel I should be doing Mr. Moore’s job for him.”
“At the site I visited chest height gamma readings were, on average, 1.5 uSv/hr. Point source alpha readings from the ore, which I can be seen measuring in published photographs, were as high as 10.75 uSv/hr.”
Mr. Chapple, who served on the ARPANSA Radiation Health Council between 2006 and 2008, took issue with Mr. Moore’s distortion of radiation science.
“To compare exposure to radiation during air travel to radiation from uranium ore is mischievous and unscientific. They are completely different types of radiation with completely different impacts on the human body.”
“During air travel the body is exposed to cosmic radiation which passes through the body with the results described by Mr. Moore. Uranium ore emits alpha radiation, which cannot pass through the body but can be inhaled from dust in contaminated areas such as the Lake Way site.
“Inhaled alpha particles can cause leukaemia and other serious health impacts in the long term, which is why this site is such a hazard to workers in the area and to local inhabitants.”
Mr. Chapple also pointed out that the contaminated ore piles are located on a dry lake bed adjacent to artificial trenches – not natural outcroppings.
“These are most definitely not the ‘naturally occurring outcroppings of uranium ore’ Mr. Moore has referred to – these are the sites of a poorly executed attempt at remediation from excavation activities. Even a cursory inspection of the site on Google Earth [see attached file] demonstrates this, let alone a visit to the site”
“I invite Mr. Moore to educate himself with regards to radiation science and then to re-examine the evidence on hand.”
- Media Contact: Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255
