Are the dust storms radioactive?

Shortly after two dust storms swept the entire east coast of Australia over September 22-26, concerns were raised that radioactive materials from central Australian uranium mines could make the same journey.

Rob Webb from the Bureau of Meteorology told ABC radio's September 25 PM the red dust began to swirl in north-eastern areas of South Australia. "That seems to have been where strongest winds have been blowing and that's where it started to thicken up", he said.

On September 24, filmmaker and anti-nuclear campaigner David Bradbury told the ABC a new BHP Billiton proposal for an open-cut mine expansion at South Australia's Olympic Dam would mean up to 70 million tonnes of radioactive waste will be dumped on the site each year.

He said the dust storms were reason to be concerned about BHP Billiton's tailings disposal. The tailings emit alpha radiation, carcinogenic to humans and animals.
"My grave concern is that with the open-cut mine expansion that BHP Billiton wants permission from state and federal governments to go ahead with, that the radioactive tailings left behind will blow over the eastern coast centres of the most populated cities of Australia", he said.

The dust storms caused concern about drought, land management and topsoil degradation, and the increasing severity of Australia's weather patterns.

Along with worsening bushfires and reduced rainfall, climate change means a warmer, drier inland and a rise in unusually strong winds will make dust storms such as last week's more common and severe.

The health and environment risks of uranium mining, particularly the destructive and unmanageable nature of open-cut mining, are already enormous. Continued uranium mining in central Australia could mean radioactive dust storms become the next environmental disaster.

From GLW issue 812