Aust, to spend more on three atomic sites

Press, 28 August 1984, Page 25

Aust, to spend more on three atomic sites

NZPA-AAP Canberra The Federal Government has increased by 163 per cent the amount it will spend this financial year at the Maralinga, Emu and Monte Bello British atomic weapons test sites in South Australia and Western Australia. The Federal Budget provides for $384,000 to be spent at the three sites, compared with $145,809 spent last financial year. About $50,000 of this is believed to be for the cost of 4.5 km of temporary fencing built recently in three areas at Maralinga after plutonium - contaminated metal fragments were found outside existing fenced areas. This year’s allocation also includes $70,000 to buy and

equip a laboratory-caravan, which will be used by the Australian Radiation Laboratory to analyse samples during a survey of the Maralinga site later this year. A further $130,000 has been provided to fund the construction of a permanent man-proof fence around contaminated areas once the survey is completed. The Minister of Federal Resources and Energy, Senator Peter Walsh, revealed in June that 98 points with radioactivity above that of the immediate area had been found. From these, 28 fragments were retrieved for analysis. The Australian Radiation Laboratory had estimated that the total amount of plutonium in the retrieved fragments was less than a gram.