A statement by ANSTO has attempted to downplay a series of accidents and mishaps at the Lucas Heights plant exposed by the Greens in senate estimates hearings this morning.

"If ANSTO believes its record is clean, it should make public the incident reports rather than waiting for the issues to be raised in Senate committees," said Greens spokesperson on nuclear issues, Senator Scott Ludlam.

"The ANSTO statement confuses the issue by referring to imaginary claims of a 'spill' and seeks to downplay an incident by noting, "The quantity of medical isotope in the vial was 1/10 of a teaspoon".

"The quantity of material exposed is irrelevant: as ANSTO well knows, it is the level of radioactivity of a given sample that matters, not how many teaspoons may have been dropped.

"ANSTO is also aware that there is no safe level of ionising radiation (see link below) as confirmed by the National Academies of Science BEIR VII report on "Health Risks from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation"

ANSTO's whistleblower policy states that disclosure of threats to the health, safety and welfare of staff, and/or the general public is in the public interest.

"Only one aspect of the ANSTO statement is helpful - confirming that the incidents took place at ANSTO's radiopharmaceutical production facility which is situated within the Lucas Heights complex and not the OPAL reactor building (as was stated in our previous release)."

NAS Report in Brief June 2005 BEIR VII: Health Effects from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation pp 2-3 (for 1 cancer in 100 people exposed to 100mSv or 10 r).
http://dels.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/beir_vii_final.pdf

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