N-waste plan condemned

Press, 30 August 1980, Page 9

N-waste plan condemned

NZPA Melbourne The Australian anti-ura-nium lobby has condemned Japanese plans to dump low radioactivity nuclear waste at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

A deputy director of the Japanese Science and Technology Agency, Mr Goto, was reported as having said that Australia and New Zealand had shown understanding towards the plan. The . report, in the “Australian Financial Review,” quoted Mr Goto as saying Japan must now seek the understanding among other Pacific nations.

A spokesman for the Movement "Against Uranium Mining, Mr John Speight, said yesterday that the statements -were of “grave concern”. * .:;

“This attitude is totally ir-

responsible and clearly indicates the present Australian Government’s contempt for the rights and safety of the Australian people and the people of the Pacific,” he said.

“This plan by the Japanese Government further highlights one of the many unsolved problems inherent with the use of nuclear energy and the extent that the international pro-nuclear lobby is prepared to impose on the people of the Pacific region.”

It was clear that the Australian Government in its “desperate search” for contracts for Australia’s uranium was prepared to act as a subservient agent for the international pro-nuclear lobby, even to the extent of pressuring other; Pacific nations to capitulate to the plan.