Australia's Uranium
(January 2010)
Uranium is part of Australia's mining heritage, though only three mines are currently operating. More are proposed.
Australia's uranium reserves are the world's largest, with 23% of the total. Production and exports average about 10,000 tonnes of uranium oxide (8500 tU) per year.
Australia's uranium is used solely for electricity. It is supplied under arrangements which ensure that none finds its way into nuclear weapons.
In the year 2008-09 Australia exported over 10,000 tonnes of uranium oxide concentrate with a value of over A$ 1 billion.
Australia uses no nuclear power, but with carbon constraints on electricity generation likely, it remains a strong possibility.
In the 1930s ores were mined at Radium Hill and Mount Painter in SA to recover radium for medical purposes. As a result a few hundred kilograms of uranium were also produced. Uranium ores as such were mined and treated in Australia from the 1950s until 1971. Radium Hill, SA, Rum Jungle, NT, and Mary Kathleen, Queensland, were the largest producers of uranium (as yellowcake). Production ceased either when ore reserves were exhausted or contracts were filled. Sales were to supply material primarily intended for USA and UK weapons programs at that time. However, much of it was used for electricity production.
The development of civil nuclear power stimulated a second wave of exploration activity in the late 1960s. A total of some 60 uranium deposits were identified from the 1950s through to the late 1970s, many by big companies with big budgets. (Since then only two significant new ones have been found: Kintyre and Beverley Four Mile. The minor exploration boom 2002-07 was driven by small companies focused on proving up known deposits.)
Mary Kathleen began recommissioning its mine and mill in 1974. Other developments were deferred pending the findings of the Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry, and its decision in the light of these. Mary Kathleen's second production phase was1976 to the end of 1982.
The Commonwealth Government announced in 1977 that new uranium mining was to proceed, commencing with the Ranger project in the Northern Territory. This mine opened in 1981.
In 1979, Queensland Mines opened Nabarlek in the same region of Northern Territory. The orebody was mined out in one dry season and the ore stockpiled for treatment from 1980. The mine site is now rehabilitated.
A brief history of Australian uranium mining is appended.
The Mines
Ranger opened in 1981 at a production rate of approximately 3300 tonnes per year of uranium oxide and has since been expanded to 5500 t/yr capacity. Sales are to Japan, South Korea, France, Spain, Sweden, UK, Canada & USA. Ranger is owned by Energy Resources of Australia Ltd (ERA), now a subsidiary of Rio Tinto.
During 1988 the Olympic Dam project, then a joint venture of Western Mining Corporation and BP Minerals, commenced operations. This is a large underground mine in central South Australia, producing copper, gold and uranium. Annual production capacity for uranium oxide has been expanded from 1800 to 4600 tonnes, with sales to USA, Canada, Sweden, UK, Belgium, France, Finland, South Korea and Japan. It is now owned by BHP Billiton, following its 2005 takeover of WMC Resources.
Both Ranger and the now-closed and rehhabilitated Nabarlek mines are on aboriginal land in the Alligator Rivers region of the Northern Territory, close to the Kakadu National Park (in fact the Ranger leases are surrounded by the National Park). Ranger is served by the township of Jabiru, constructed largely for that purpose. During the operation of Nabarlek mine, employees were based in Darwin and commuted by air.
Aboriginal people receive royalties of 4.25% on sales of uranium from Northern Territory mines. The total received simply from Ranger is now over $207 million, and $14 million came from Nabarlek.
The Olympic Dam mine is on formerly pastoral land in the middle of South Australia. A town to accommodate 3500 people was built at Roxby Downs to service the mine.
With the 1996 change in government, the Beverley project was brought forward and the mine started operation late in 2000. It is Australia's first in situ leach (ISL) mine and was licensed to produce 1180 t/yr U3O8 (1000 tU), and reached this level in 2004. It is owned and operated by Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd, an associate of General Atomics in the USA.
For more detail of mines see paper: Australia's Uranium Mines.
Prospective mines and expansion
The Jabiluka uranium deposit in the Northern Territory was discovered in 1971-73, 20 kilometres north of Ranger. It is surrounded by the Kakadu National Park, but the mine lease area is excluded from the National Park and adjoins the Ranger lease. It has resources of over 130 000 tonnes of uranium oxide, and is one of the world's larger high-grade uranium deposits. A mining lease was granted in 1982 but development was stalled due to disagreements with the Aboriginal traditional owners, then with the Australian Labor Party coming to power in the 1983 federal election, Commonwealth approval was withdrawn and development ceased. In 1991 Energy Resources of Australia (ERA), the operator of the adjacent Ranger mine, bought the Jabiluka lease from Pancontinental for A $125 million.
Following the 1996 change of government and further approvals, development of the underground mine proceeded with an 1150 metre access decline and a further 700 metres of excavation around the orebody. However, mining was deferred until agreement could be reached regarding treatment of Jabiluka ore at the Ranger mill. ERA (whose parent company is Rio Tinto) will not proceed with the mine until there is agreement from the local Mirrar Aboriginal people.
Honeymoon received government approval to proceed with ISL mine development in November 2001 but reassessed its ore reserves and finally moved to development in 2007. This was then suspended while its owner, Uranium One Inc of Canada, focused attention on new mines in South Africa, USA and Kazakhstan. In 2008 Mitsui agreed to join the project as 49% joint venture partner, and a construction contract was then let, to allow operation to commence by mid 2010 and ramp up to commercial production of 400 t/yr in 2011. Mitsui's A$ 104 million is largely funding the commissioning. Early in 2009, a 20% share in Uranium One was taken by three Japanese companies, giving 59% Japanese equity in Honeymoon.
In May 2008 Quasar Resources, an affiliate of Heathgate Resources, applied for a mining licence for its Four Mile deposit. The first stage of in situ leach (ISL) mining is to commence in 2010. Initial production is envisaged as 680 t/yr U3O8, rising to 2000 t/yr by stage 3. Uranium recovery will be through a satellite ion exchange plant at Four Mile then trucking the loaded resin to the main Beverley plant for stripping (elution) and precipitation, as is done at two US mines. Alliance Resources Ltd is a 25% free-carried joint venture partner.
BHP Billiton is undertaking a major feasibility study on greatly expanding the Olympic Dam mine, and it has released the 4600-page environmental impact statement for the project. The plan is to develop a large open pit with associated infrastructure over 11 years and lift uranium production to 19,000 tonnes U3O8 per year. The open pit will mean that up to 98% of the ore is mined rather than 25% of it. Most of the uranium will be separated at the mine, but about 2000 t/yr will be exported in copper concentrates, requiring a smelter for these in China or Japan which is subject to safeguards. New infrastructure will include a 280 ML/day desalination plant on Spencer Gulf, supplying 200 ML/day to the operation, and 650 MWe increase in power supply. The present underground mining will continue in the narrow northern part of the orebody.
For more detail of mine prospects see paper: Australia's Uranium Deposits and Prospective Mines.
Australian Uranium Production and Exports
| | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09
|
| Production | 7717 | 9149 | 9533 | 10964 | 9949 | 9581 | 10095 | 10278 |
| Exports | 7366 | 9592 | 9099 | 11215 | 10252 | 9518 | 10151 | 10114
|
| Exports | 361 | 427 | 364 | 475 | 545 | 658 | 887 | 1030
|
For tU, divide by 1.1793.
Production and export by calendar year:
| | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009
|
production
(tonnes U3O8) | 5799 | 7055 | 8937 | 9119 | 8083 | 8930 | 10592 | 11217 | 8954 | 10145 | 9941 | 9413 |
production
(tonnes U) | 4917 | 5982 | 7578 | 7733 | 6854 | 7572 | 8982 | 9512 | 7593 | 8603 | 8430 | 7982 |
exports
(tonnes U3O8) | 5553 | 7578 | 8757 | 9239 | 7637 | 9612 | 9648 | 12360 | 8660 | 10232 | 9663 | |
exports
(tonnes U) | 4709 | 6426 | 7426 | 7834 | 6476 | 8151 | 8181 | 10481 | 7344 | 8676 | 8194 | |
exports
(A$ million FOB) | 270 | 349 | 426 | 463 | 363 | 398 | 411 | 573 | 529 | 881 | 749 | |
export value*
($A/kg U3O8) | 48.57 | 46.06 | 48.65 | 50.09 | 47.57 | 41.41 | 42.58 | 46.36 | 61.06 | 86.11 | 77.54 | |
export value*
(US$/lb U3O8) | 13.84 | 13.48 | 12.85 | 11.78 | 11.73 | 12.24 | 14.22 | 16.03 | 20.88 | 32.77 | 50.24 | |
* $A from declared net FOB estimates, $US calculated from this.
Source: Dept of Resources, Energy & Tourism
Economic benefits of mining uranium
About 1200 people are employed in uranium mining, at least 500 in uranium exploration, and 60 jobs are in regulation of uranium mining.
Uranium mines generate about A$ 21 million in royalties each year (in 2005: Ranger $13.1 million, Beverley $1.0 million and Olympic Dam $6.9 million attributable to uranium). Corporate taxes amount to over $42 million per year.
Uranium Exports From Australia
Australian exports over the last three years have averaged almost 10,000 t/yr U3O8, providing about 22% of world uranium supply from mines. Uranium comprises about 35% of the country's energy exports (4757 PJ in 2007-08) in thermal terms.
Australia's uranium is sold strictly for electrical power generation only, and safeguards are in place to ensure this. Australia is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a non-nuclear weapons state. Its safeguards agreement under the NPT came into force in 1974 and it was the first country in the world to bring into force the Additional Protocol in relation to this - in 1997. In addition to these international arrangements Australia requires customer countries to have entered a bilateral safeguards treaty which is more rigorous than NPT arrangements.
The value of Australia's uranium oxide concentrate exports has been rising steadily and in 2008-09 they reached a value of over A$ 1 billion. ABARE’s March 2009 Quarter Commodities report forecasts a 38% increase in uranium export volumes by 2014 in response to increased demand, and an 86% increase in export revenues during the same period, reflecting higher long-term contract prices.
The nations which currently purchase Australia's uranium are set out below. All have a large commitment to nuclear power:
The USA generates around 30% of the world's nuclear power. Much of its uranium comes from Canada, but Australia is a major source. Europe depends heavily on nuclear power and EU countries are also major customers. Japan, South Korea and now China are important customers due to their increasing dependence on nuclear energy.
Customer countries' contracted imports of Australian uranium oxide concentrate may be summarised as follows, (but see also the reactor table):
USA: c 4000 tonnes per year - 104 reactors (supplying 20% of electricity)
Japan: c 2500 tonnes per year - 53 reactors (supplying 30% of electricity)
South Korea: up to 1000 tonnes per year - 20 reactors (35% of electricity)
China: expected to increase from 300 tonnes per year – 9 reactors
Taiwan: c 500 tonnes per year - 6 reactors (supplying 20% of electricity)
EU: about 3500 tonnes per year, including:
Spain: 9 reactors (24% of electricity)
France: 59 reactors (77% of electricity)
UK: 23 reactors (20% of electricity)
Sweden: 10 reactors (50% of electricity)
Germany: 17 nuclear reactors (30% of electricity)
Belgium: 7 reactors (55% of electricity)
Finland: 4 reactors (27% of electricity)
Canada and South Africa: both are uranium producer countries with nuclear power plants and which buy a modest amount from Australia occasionally.
Australia is a preferred uranium supplier to world, especially East Asian, markets where demand is growing most rapidly. In 2006 a bilateral agreement was concluded with China, enabling exports there. Australia could readily increase its share of the world market because of its low cost resources and its political and economic stability.
Uranium resources
On the basis of December 2006 data Australia has 40% of the world's lowest-cost uranium resources (under US$ 40/kg). Nearly all of Australia's 714,000 tonnes of Reasonably Assured Resources of uranium to US$ 80/kg U (US$ 30/lb U3O8) are in the under US$ 40/kg U category.
This $40/kg RAR figure compares with Kazakhstan (235,000 tU), Canada (270,000 tonnes) and South Africa (115,000 tonnes).
The following table shows Reasonably Assured plus Inferred Resources in the higher cost category to $130/kg:
Known Recoverable Resources* of Uranium
| | tonnes U | percentage of world |
| Australia | 1,243,000 | 23% |
| Kazakhstan | 817,000 | 15% |
| Rusian Fed | 546,000 | 10% |
| South Africa | 435,000 | 8% |
| Canada | 423,000 | 8% |
| USA | 339,000 | 6% |
| Brazil | 278,000 | 5% |
| Namibia | 275,000 | 5% |
| Niger | 274,000 | 5% |
| Ukraine | 200,000 | 4% |
| Jordan | 112,000 | 2% |
| Uzbekistan | 111,000 | 2% |
| India | 73,000 | 1% |
| China | 68,000 | 1% |
| Mongolia | 62,000 | 1% |
| Other | 213,000 | 4% |
| World total | 5,469,000 |
|
* Reasonably Assured Resources plus Inferred Resources, to US$ 130/kg U, 1/1/07, from OECD NEA & IAEA, Uranium 2007: Resources, Production and Demand ("Red Book").
In November 2007 Geoscience Australia released its annual update of Australia's Identified Mineral Resources, confirming large increases for uranium above 2005 Red Book figures - 34% for the main economic resource categories. Australia's Economically Demonstrated Resources (EDR = Reasonably Assured Resources to $80/kgU) of uranium at the end of 2006 were 714,000 tonnes (tU), but during 2007, exploration and development drilling resulted in increases at several locations to 953,000 tU total. If Inferred Resources are added, the total comes to 1.53 million tonnes recoverable at less than US$ 80/kgU, as of August 2007. This compares with the 2007 Red Book figure (above) of 1.2 million tU at end of 2006.
Australia had 27% of the world's uranium (RAR to $80/kgU) at end of 2006. (No estimate is possible for August 2007 in the absence of corresponding data internationally.)
About 96% of Australia's EDR are within six deposits: Olympic Dam (the world's largest known uranium deposit), Ranger, Jabiluka, Koongarra, Kintyre and Yeelirrie.
The new 2007 report made a distinction between EDR and Accessible EDR, to reflect the fact that state government policies in Queensland and Western Australia plus aboriginal policies in the Northern Territory currently made 21% of the EDR inaccessible for mining. This will now be less due to changed government policy in WA.
Despite these restrictive policies and perhaps in anticipation of their disappearance, uranium exploration gathered pace during 2006, with more than 200 companies professing an interest, compared with 34 the previous year. Expenditure almost doubled, to A$ 80.7 million and has continued to increase since, to A$ 120 million in just the first six months of 2007-08.
12 months to 30 June each year
FOB, 12 months to 30 June each year
Nuclear Power Prospects in Australia
In December 2006 the report of the Prime Minster's expert taskforce considering nuclear power was released. It said nuclear power would be 20-50% more expensive than coal-fired power and (with renewables) it would only be competitive if "low to moderate" costs are imposed on carbon emissions (A$ 15-40 - US$ 12-30 - per tonne CO2). "Nuclear power is the least-cost low-emission technology that can provide base-load power" and has low life cycle impacts environmentally.
The then Prime Minister said that in the context of meeting increased energy needs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions "if we are to have a sensible response we have to include nuclear power". "The report provides a thorough examination of all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle and the possible role of nuclear power in generating electricity in Australia in the longer term. It provides a clear and comprehensive analysis of the facts surrounding the nuclear industry and debunks a number of myths. I am certain that the report will make a significant contribution to informing public debate on these issues."
The report said that the first nuclear plants could be running in 15 years, and looking beyond that, 25 reactors at coastal sites might be supplying one third of Australia's (doubled) electricity demand by 2050. Certainly "the challenge to contain and reduce greenhouse gas emissions would be considerably eased by investment in nuclear plants." "Emission reductions from nuclear power could reach 8 to 18% of national emissions in 2050".
In April 2007 the Prime Minister announced that the government would proceed to open the way for nuclear power in Australia by setting up a nuclear regulatory regime and removing any regulatory obstacles which might unreasonably stand in the way of building nuclear power plants. Australia would also apply to join the Generation IV International Forum, which is developing advanced reactor designs for deployment about 2025. The government would also take steps to remove impediments to uranium mining. "Policies or political platforms that seek to constrain the development of a safe and reliable Australian uranium industry - and which rule out the possibility of climate-friendly nuclear energy - are not really serious about addressing climate change in a practical way that does not strangle the Australian economy."
In June 2007 the emissions trading taskforce report proposed that Australia should move steadily to implement an emissions trading scheme by 2012. While Australia cannot afford to wait upon a global regime, its own should be devised so as to avoid the shortcomings of present schemes and also articulate internationally. Both emission reduction targets and carbon price would be low initially and ramp up. The need for a trading scheme "more comprehensive, more rigorously grounded in economics and with better governance than anything in Europe" was noted. It would be designed to appeal to developing nations. The cost increment on coal-fired power generation brought about by a carbon emission cost would be likely to make nuclear power competitive in Australia.
With a change of government late in 2007 the move towards nuclear power was halted and the implementation of an emissions trading scheme became bogged down in political rhetoric.
Any proposal for building nuclear power plants would need to be brought forward by generating companies. The National Generators Forum published a report in 2006 on Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Power Generation which concluded that "Stabilising emissions at present levels and meeting base-load requirements could be achieved with nuclear power at comparatively modest cost." While projected cost increases to 2050 could be more than 120%, using nuclear power would halve the increase. "At $20 per tonne of CO2 price, nuclear starts to become more cost-effective than current fossil fuel technologies."
Cooling will be a major issue in respect to future base-load generating capacity in Australia. At present about 80% of electricity is produced from coal-fired plants, mostly cooled by evaporating water in cooling towers. An estimated 400 GL/yr of fresh water is thus evaporated and lost - about the same as Melbourne's water use. In the light of widespread shortage of fresh water, cooling of nuclear plants would need to be by seawater, hence coastal sites would be required* and to the extent that nuclear plants actually replaced coal-fired plants, a very large amount of fresh water would be freed up for other uses. Coastal location of nuclear plants would also give rise to the possibility of cogeneration, using waste heat or surplus heat for desalination and production of potable water.
* A coal plant is normally sited on a coalfield (inland), so does use a lot of water for evaporative cooling towers. A nuclear plant can be anywhere, from the point of view of fuel supply.
In September 2007 Australia was one of eleven countries joining the five founders in the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). Australia made it a condition that it is not obliged to accept any foreign nuclear wastes, and it reserved the right to enrich uranium in the future. In the lead up to this Australia and the USA finalized a joint action plan for civil nuclear energy cooperation including R&D and regulatory issues.
Earlier background to considering nuclear power
See also WNA's Appendix on Australian Research Reactors.
In 1953 the Australian Parliament passed the Atomic Energy Act, which established the Australian Atomic Energy Commission (AAEC). AAEC's functions included advising the Government on nuclear energy matters, and the Commission quickly decided that effective and informed advice could only be provided if there was underlying expertise directly available to it. Hence in 1955 it established a research establishment at Lucas Heights, near Sydney and began assembling a world class team of scientists and engineers. It also began construction of a materials testing reactor, HIFAR, which first achieved criticality and started up on Australia Day, in January 1958.
The AAEC's research program was initially very ambitious and included studies of two different power reactor systems, on the base of substantial multi-disciplinary research in the fields of physics, chemistry, materials science and engineering. Later, recognising Australia's potential as a source of uranium, AAEC also undertook an experimental research program in the enrichment of uranium.
The AAEC also initially convinced the Government that there would be benefits from the construction of a "lead" nuclear power station on Commonwealth land at Jervis Bay, south of Sydney. After competitive bids were obtained, a reshuffle of leadership in the Government led to a loss of interest in the proposal and the project was eventually abandoned in 1972.
In the late 1960s Victoria's State Electricity Commission undertook preliminary studies on building a large nuclear plant on French Island in Westernport. In 1969 the South Australian government proposed a nuclear power plant in SA to supply the Victorian grid. Earlier proposals were for a nuclear plant at Port Augusta, SA. Then in 1976 the SA government in submission to the Ranger Inquiry said nuclear power appeared inevitable for SA, perhaps by 2000.
In 1981, the government's National Energy Advisory Committee presented a report on the administrative and legal issues associated with any domestic nuclear power program. It recommended that "the commonwealth, state and Northern Territory governments should develop with minimum delay a legal framework using complementary legislation as appropriate for licensing and regulating health, safety and environmental and third party liability aspects."
In Australia the possibility of nuclear power is hindered in Victoria and NSW, by legislation enacted by previous governments. In Victoria the Nuclear Activities (Prohibitions) Act 1983 prohibits the construction or operation of any nuclear reactor, and consequential amendments to other Acts reinforce this. In NSW the Uranium Mining and Nuclear Facilities (Prohibitions) Act 1986 is similar. In 2007 the Queensland government enacted the Nuclear Facilities Prohibition Act 2006, which is similar (but allows uranium mining).
Electricity options
Coal provides about 78% of Australia's electricity, and the full picture is given in the paper Australia's Electricity, as an Appendix to this. This also accounts for most of the 200 Mt/yr carbon dioxide emissions from electricity and heat production and uses up about 400 GL/yr of fresh water for evaporative cooling.
Australia is fortunate in having large easily-mined deposits of coal close to the major urban centres in the eastern mainland states. It has been possible to site the major power stations close to those coal deposits and thus eliminate much of the cost and inconvenience of moving large tonnages of a bulky material. Energy losses in electricity transmission are relatively low.
Western and South Australia have relatively less coal but plenty of gas and also lower demand for electricity. More than half of their electricity is derived from burning gas. Development of Tasmania's large hydro-electric resources has put off the day when it needs any large thermal power stations, but hydro potential is now almost fully utilised.
In the next 15 years or so Australia is likely to need to replace the oldest quarter of its thermal generating capacity, simply due to old age. This is at least 8000 MWe, practically all coal-fired. If it were replaced by gas-fired plant, there would be a reduction of about 25-30 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. If it were replaced by say six nuclear reactors there would be a reduction of about 50 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. Every 22 tonnes of uranium (26 t U3O8) used saves the emission of one million tonnes of CO2 relative to coal.
In other parts of the world as well as Western and South Australia, there was a conspicuous "flight to gas" in the late 1990s while gas prices were low. Generating plant to utilise gas is relatively cheap and quickly built, and at the point of use, gas-fired electricity does cause only half the greenhouse emission of coal. It is clearly an option to utilise more gas for electricity in Australia if low gas prices can be maintained many years ahead.
Moving to gas would be seen by some as a great step forward for the environment. Others would see it as a tragic waste of a valuable and versatile energy resource. Gas can be reticulated to homes and factories to be burned there at much greater efficiency overall.
In January 2007 the Energy Supply Association of Australia (ESAA) completed a study on electricity supply options relative to CO2 emission constraints in meeting projected load in 2030. For a 67% increase in electricity load, greenhouse gas emission targets of 140%, 100% and 70% of 2000 levels were modeled, with three supply options: all credible technologies; without nuclear; and without both nuclear and fossil fuel (with carbon capture and storage). Constraining CO2 emissions would require nuclear contributing 20% of the power, with overall about 30% increase in costs, hence a need for costing carbon to cover this. ESAA concluded that "the widest possible range of generation technologies will be needed."
Radioactive Wastes
While Australia has no nuclear power producing electricity, it does have well-developed usage of radioisotopes in medicine, research and industry. Many of these isotopes are produced in the research reactor at Lucas Heights, near Sydney, then used at hospitals, industrial sites and laboratories around the country.
Each year Australia produces about 45 cubic metres of radioactive wastes arising from these uses and from the manufacture of the isotopes - about 40 m3 low-level wastes (LLW) and 5 m3 intermediate-level wastes (ILW). These wastes are now stored at over a hundred sites around Australia. This is not considered a suitable long-term strategy.
Since the late 1970s there has been an evolving process of site selection for a national radioactive waste repository for LLW and short-lived ILW. There has also been consideration of the need to locate a secure storage facility for long-lived intermediate-level wastes including those which will be returned to Australia following the reprocessing of used fuel from Lucas Heights. Eventually, disposal options for this will need to be considered also.
Low-level wastes and short-lived intermediate-level wastes will be disposed of in a shallow, engineered repository designed to ensure that radioactive material is contained and allowed to decay safely to background levels. Dry conditions will allow a simpler structure than some overseas repositories. The material will be buried in drums or contained in concrete. The repository will have a secure multi-layer cover at least 5 metres thick, so that it does not add to local background radiation levels at the site.
There is a total of about 3700 cubic metres of low-level waste awaiting proper disposal, though annual arisings are small (the 40 cubic metres would be three truckloads). Over half of the present material is lightly-contaminated soil from CSIRO mineral processing research decdes ago (and could conceivably be reclassified, since it is no more radioactive than many natural rocks and sands).
Long-lived intermediate-level (category S) wastes will be stored above ground in an engineered facility designed to hold them secure for an extended period and to shield their radiation until a geological repository is eventually justified and established, or alternative arrangements made.
There is about 500 cubic metres of category S waste at various locations awaiting disposal, and future annual arisings will be about 5 cubic metres from all sources including states & territories, Commonwealth agencies and from radiopharmaceutical production, plus the returned material from reprocessing spent ANSTO research reactor fuel in Europe. This will be conditioned by vitrification or embedding in cement, and some 26 cubic metres of it is expected by about 2020.
See further: Radioactive Waste Repository & Store for Australia, as Appendix to this paper.
General Sources:
ABARE, DITR, ANSTO,
ERA & WMC/ BHP Billiton quarterly and Annual Reports
OECD NEA & IAEA, 2006, Uranium 2005: Resources, Production and Demand
Aust Dept of PM & Cabinet, Dec 2006, Uranium Mining, Procesing and Nuclear Energy Review, Uranium Mining, Processing and Nuclear Energy - Opportunities for Australia? (Switowski report)
Alder, Keith, 1996, Australia's Uranium Opportunities, P.M.Alder, Sydney.
Hardy C. 1999, Atomic Rise and Fall - the AAEC 1953-87, Glen Haven Press.
Cawte A 1992, , UNSW Press.
Appendix
A brief history of Australian uranium mining
The existence of uranium deposits in Australia has been known since the 1890s. Some uranium ores were mined in the 1930s at Radium Hill and Mount Painter, South Australia, to recover minute amounts of radium for medical purposes. Some uranium was also recovered and used as a bright yellow pigment in glass and ceramics.
Following requests from the British and United States governments, systematic exploration for uranium began in 1944. In 1948 the Commonwealth Government offered tax-free rewards for the discovery of uranium orebodies. As a result, uranium was discovered by prospectors at Rum Jungle in 1949, and in the South Alligator River region (1953) of the Northern Territory, then at Mary Kathleen (1954) and Westmoreland (1956) in north west Queensland.
In 1952 a decision was taken to mine Rum Jungle, NT and it opened in 1954 as a Commonwealth Government enterprise. Radium Hill, SA was reopened in 1954 as a uranium mine. Mining began at Mary Kathleen, Qld in 1958 and in the South Alligator region, NT in 1959. Production at most mines ceased by 1964 and Rum Jungle closed in 1971, either when ore reserves were exhausted or contracts were filled. Sales of some 7730 tonnes of uranium from these operations were to supply material primarily intended for USA and UK weapons programs at that time. However much of it was used in civil power production.
The development of nuclear power stimulated a second wave of exploration activity in the late 1960s. In the Northern Territory, Ranger was discovered in 1969, Nabarlek and Koongarra in 1970, and Jabiluka in 1971. New sales contracts (for electric power generation) were made by Mary Kathleen Uranium Ltd., Queensland Mines Ltd. (for Nabarlek), and Ranger Uranium Mines Pty. Ltd., in the years 1970-72.
Successive governments (both Liberal Coalition and Labor) approved these, and Mary Kathleen began recommissioning its mine and mill in 1974. Consideration by the Commonwealth Government of additional sales contracts was deferred pending the findings of the Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry, and its decision in the light of these. Mary Kathleen recommenced production of uranium oxide in 1976, after the Commonwealth Government had taken up a 42% share of the company.
The Commonwealth Government announced in 1977 that new uranium mining was to proceed, commencing with the Ranger project in the Northern Territory. In 1979 it decided to sell its interest in Ranger, and as a result Energy Resources of Australia Ltd was set up to own and operate the mine. The mine opened in 1981, producing 2800 t/yr of uranium, sold to utilities in several countries. Production over three years to mid 2002 averaged 3533 t/yr of uranium.
In 1980, Queensland Mines opened Nabarlek in the same region of Northern Territory. The orebody was mined out in one dry season and the ore stockpiled for treatment from 1980. A total of 10,858 tonnes of uranium oxide were produced and sold to Japan, Finland and France, over 1981-88. The mine site is now rehabilitated.
At the end of 1982 Mary Kathleen in Queensland had depleted its ore and finally closed down after 4802 tonnes of uranium oxide had been produced in its second phase of operation. This then became the site of Australia's first major rehabilitation project on a uranium mine site, which was completed at the end of 1985. The Rum Jungle Rehabilitation project also took place in the 1980s.
Australian Labor Party (ALP) policy on uranium mining has varied over four decades. The 1971 Platform, on which the Whitlam Government was elected in 1972, committed the party to working towards the establishment of a domestic uranium enrichment and nuclear power sector. But after losing government in 1975, pressure grew in the Labor Party for a strong stance against uranium mining and export, as a counterpoint to Liberal Coalition policies to expedite uranium mining and export. An anti-nuclear movement gained strength and campaigned to end Australian uranium mining.
The 1977 ALP National Conference adopted a new policy. Community concerns with the threat of nuclear war were to be allayed by ending uranium mining and ceasing Australia's contribution to the nuclear fuel cycle. The change committed a future Labor government to declare a moratorium on uranium mining and treatment and to repudiating any commitments to mining, processing or export made by a non-Labor government. The policy made a strong statement and was seen to provide moral leadership.
By the time of the 1982 ALP National Conference, many in the Labor Party were troubled about how an incoming Labor Government would implement the party's moratorium policy. There was concern that the repudiation of contracts would raise issues of sovereign risk and would expose a Labor government to compensation liabilities. An amendment to the ALP Platform in 1982 sought a compromise between the positions of those who wanted to shut the industry down and those who felt that doing so was neither possible nor in the national interest. It committed Labor to a policy on uranium mining which was a classic political compromise, the core of which endured as Labor policy for 25 years. The policy was designed to prevent new uranium mines; limit Australia's uranium production with a view to the eventual phasing out of mining altogether; and provide moral leadership in ending the nuclear industry.
However, in a concession to South Australia, it also said that a Labor government would "consider applications for the export of uranium mined incidentally to the mining of other minerals on a case by case basis". This was the Roxby Downs amendment, which would allow export of uranium from Olympic Dam - a major copper and uranium deposit. So the 1982 anti-uranium policy actually authorised the development of the world's largest uranium mine!
In the 1983 federal election the ALP won office. The 1984 ALP National Conference then dropped the language of moratorium, repudiation of contracts and phase-out from the Platform. For the first time the three-mines-policy was delineated by naming Nabarlek, Ranger and Roxby Downs (Olympic Dam) as the only projects from which exports would be permitted. Provisional approvals for marketing from other prospective uranium mines were cancelled.
The naming of specific mines was later deleted from the Labor Platform in the light of the fact that Nabarlek ceased production in 1988 and under a Coalition government Beverley started up in 2000. The ALP policy then only allowed exports from existing mines and prevented the establishment of new ones. This endured through a change of government in 1996 until 2007, when it was abandoned as ineffective and likely to be electorally negative due to changed public opinion arising from global warming concerns.
Adapted from Senator Chris Evans speech 23/3/07 to Labor Business Roundtable, Perth.
During 1988 Western Mining Corporation's Olympic Dam project commenced operations. This is a large underground mine at Roxby Downs, South Australia, producing copper, with uranium and gold as by-products. Annual production of uranium started at some 1300 tonnes, with sales to Sweden, UK, South Korea and Japan. After a A$ 1.9 billion expansion project, production increased to over 4000 tonnes uranium per year by mid 2001. In 2005 it was taken over by BHP Billiton.
Both Ranger and Nabarlek mines are on aboriginal land in the Alligator Rivers region of the Northern Territory, close to the Kakadu National Park. In fact the Ranger and two other leases are surrounded by the National Park but were deliberately excluded from it when the park was established. Ranger is served by the township of Jabiru, constructed largely for that purpose. Nabarlek employees were based in Darwin and commuted by air.
See also: Former Australian Uranium Mines paper.
參考來源:World Nuclear Association
