Council calls for reactor closure during Olympics

Council calls for reactor closure during Olympics

By Jim Green

SYDNEY — The mayor of Sutherland Shire Council, Ken McDonell, has called on the federal government to shut down the nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights during the Sydney Olympic Games.

Such a closure would be in line with the precedent set in the United States during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. The Georgia Tech Research Reactor (GTRR) was de-fuelled just before the Atlanta games to prevent it from becoming a security threat. The GTRR was closed permanently after the games.

McDonell said Sydney's nuclear reactor posed an even greater threat than the GTRR. "The Atlanta reactor's power was five million watts — only half the size of Sydney's reactor. While all the highly enriched fuel was removed from the GTRR four months prior to the games, there are no similar plans to move the 1100 spent fuel rods still on site at Lucas Heights", he said.

From GLW issue 393