ANSTO’s never ending accidents, lies, cover-ups, bullying and intimidation

2023 Senate nuclear inquiry:

Senator Canavan asked at the May 15 hearing of the Senate nuclear inquiry: “Has there ever been a safety incident or an issue of radioactive waste at ANSTO?”

That question was taken on notice and the Department of Industry, Science and Resources responded as follows:

“ANSTO advises that it has safely managed its radioactive waste since its establishment 70 years ago. ANSTO publishes comprehensive information on its safety performance in its annual reports. Detailed information related to ANSTO’s safety record is also available on the ARPANSA website.”

Here are a couple of waste-related safety incidents that the Department chose not to inform the Committee about:

1. In early 1998, it was revealed that “airtight” spent fuel storage canisters had been infiltrated by water ‒ 90 litres in one case ‒ and a number of rods had corroded as a result. When canisters were retrieved for closer inspection, three accidents took place (2/3/98, 13/8/98, 1/2/99), all of them involving the dropping of canisters containing spent fuel. The public may never have learnt about those accidents if not for the fact that an ANSTO whistleblower told the local press. One of those accidents (1/2/99) subjected four ANSTO staff members to radiation doses of up to 500 microsieverts (half the public dose limit).

2. On March 15, 2002, an accident occurred during the cropping (cutting) of a spent fuel rod, releasing radioactivity to the spent fuel pond.

 We have no doubt that there have been other relevant incidents and accidents that should have been reported to the Senate inquiry by the Department and/or ANSTO.

A string of incidents and accidents at ANSTO in the 2010s resulted in ARPANSA requiring ANSTO to select and appoint an expert independent review team to recommend how to improve safety in Building 23 and related matters. The final report by the independent expert review team contained 85 recommendations to improve safety performance IN JUST ONE AREA OF ANSTO’S OPERATIONS. We shudder to think how many recommendations might arise from a site-wide evaluation. The independent review detailed inadequate safety standards and other alarming findings including that 20% of ANSTO Health staff had experienced bullying over a six-month period.

The accidents in the mid- to late-2010s followed a string of accidents from 2007‒2012. Indeed we doubt if there has been any length of time this century without recurring incidents, accidents and a raft of safety-related problems at ANSTO. 

Information on accidents and incidents at ANSTO from 2007 to 2012: