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The Australian Conservation Foundation says another contamination incident at the Ranger uranium mine should stop the Fed and NT Governments from allowing the operation to expand. Mining company, ERA has admitted several workers were contaminated clearing up a big yellow cake spill three weeks ago. Earlier this week, it announced a new possible 30,000 tonne deposit.

* Admission servicemen exposed to nuclear danger * Defence belives bomb tests led to deaths * Australian victims preparing to sue government BRITISH Defence chiefs have admitted servicemen were exposed to dangerous radiation levels during nuclear tests in Australia and the South Pacific in the 1950s. The dramatic admission, made after years of denials, features in papers filed with the High Court in London by Ministry of Defence lawyers.

THE State Government reached an in-principle agreement to pay a Hunters Hill family $3.4 million to buy their radioactive home, built on the site of a uranium dump, in an out-of-court settlement that raises safety and compensation questions for past and current residents of the street. The Government has been fighting the purchase for more than six months and has maintained that the land has only low levels of contamination. But independent tests paid for by Peter and Michelle Vassiliou on their Nelson Parade home contradicted the Government's assurances and found radiation many times the recommended safe levels, including a dangerous hot spot in the ground beneath a bedroom.

Uranium's long and winding history leaves a radioactive path in its wake. For anyone even the least bit connected with the world, you've probably heard of nuclear power - after all, it runs power plants, creates medical isotopes and even powers space probes. The history behind all of this is a fascinating one, detailing the first uses of the strange element that was first discarded as useless, misunderstood as a healing device (protip: radiation is not a very nice thing to bathe yourself in), and finally used as a hugely important source of energy. While Uranium isn't the be-all and end-all of our power problems like some would claim, it is a very good tool to use that has shaped the way our society has evolved, and the impacts of its introduction can't be ignored. It's a bit weighted towards America, completely ignoring some main points of the history (but as we know history is determined mostly by the victors who can change it to suit them better). Take a little time out of your afternoon, and give the full summary a read over at io9.

"Vindication does not happen often, but yesterday the head of Australia's Lucas Heights nuclear facility said a whistleblower was "absolutely correct" to raise serious safety concerns at the site. The comments from ANSTO chief Dr Adrian Paterson contrast with the treatment that 55-year-old reactor operator David Reid has received at the hands of management over the past 12 months. Mr Reid has been employed by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) at the south Sydney facility for the past 28 years. "

Mining giant BHP Billiton is risking the lives of its staff and employees at Olympic Dam in South Australia by exposing them to unsafe levels of radiation, according to a company whistleblower. Documents received by The Independent Weekly say BHP Billiton has been warned about the risks, and has chosen to take no action. The documents show BHP Billiton uses manipulated averages and distorted sampling to ensure its "official" figures slip under the maximum exposure levels set by government. But experts have warned exposure levels currently regarded as the international limit should be lowered, following the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in London four years ago."

A Federal MP says he does not want to see a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory. This week a Senate committee report recommended the Radioactive Waste Management Act be repealed. Damian Hale says he is pleased with the outcome and he will continue his opposition to any nuclear waste dump in the NT. The Northern Territory-based politician says he does not see any obstacle to the Act being repealed early next year.

If you were to strap a lie detection unit on senior Federal Labor MPs and start asking them about nuclear power you'd undoubtedly get some interesting results. You'd probably find that some senior members of the Federal Cabinet and many backbenchers are not as ideologically opposed to the idea of a domestic nuclear energy industry as their public statements suggest. People such as Kevin Rudd and Martin Ferguson would be able to launch arguments about the prohibitive economics of nuclear power without disturbing the polygraph, but their vital signs might quiver if they swore blind they were against it.

An independent radiation safety expert from Queensland, who was called in to speak to Ranger uranium mine employees this week about exposure levels, says management is reassessing its procedures. The mine's union expressed concern after a dirty clean up job at the mine three weeks ago.

West Australian Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore is under increasing pressure to resign from his portfolio over shares held by his wife in mining companies BHP Billiton and Woodside Petroleum. Mr Moore, the government leader in the upper house, is the second minister to face claims of a conflict of interest since his appointment to the ministry in September.

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) says it would be short-sighted to expand the Northern Territory's Ranger uranium mine now that another major potential deposit has been found. Energy Resources of Australia says it has found a potential further 40,000 tonnes of uranium oxide near the Ranger mine in Kakadu National Park, which could extend the mine's life by seven years.

Lester R. Brown, one of the world's most widely published authors and referred to by the Washington Post as "one of the world's most influential thinkers", has recently published his views via the Earth Policy Institute on the nuclear vs. wind and solar power debate; stating that nuclear power is uneconomical compared to renewable energy. Quoting from a recent analysis entitled "The Nuclear Illusion", Brown points out the cost of electricity from a new nuclear power plant costs around (USD) 14¢ per kilowatt hour compared to a wind farm's very economical 7¢ per kilowatt hour. The costings take into account capital, general operations and maintenance, transmission and distribution in relation to both options.

BHP Billiton says any increase in the amount of uranium being transported through the Northern Territory would not create problems, but an environmental lobby group is not so sure. BHP currently produces about 4,000 tonnes of uranium a year from its Olympic Dam mine in South Australia. About a quarter of that is taken by train to the Port of Darwin.

A recent Corporate Watch Australia survey reveals that many so-called ethical investment funds invest in uranium mining. The number has risen significantly in recent years. Some fund managers justify investment in uranium with questionable arguments about nuclear power and climate change, but the primary reason for the shift is probably BHP Billiton's entry into the uranium industry with its 2005 acquisition of WMC Resources, which owns the Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia.

The Greens say there is an opportunity for the community to have its say about a possible radioactive waste dump in the Northern Territory. The Federal Government is waiting for a report on the suitability of three sites in the Territory for a dump. The Greens have introduced a bill into Federal Parliament to overturn legislation forcing a dump on the Territory and the bill has now been referred to a committee of inquiry. Western Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam says if there is enough interest it may come to the Territory to consult first-hand.

AUSTRALIA'S nuclear safeguard agency has been accused of incompetence and providing false evidence to MPs who were assessing the merits of a proposed $1 billion uranium export deal with Russia. Protest groups, which have been critical of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office (ASNO) for many years, celebrated recently when the joint parliamentary committee on treaties recommended against proceeding with the Russian deal.

A council has now decided to ban uranium explorer Marathon Resources from dumping any waste at the Hawker dump in the northern Flinders Ranges of South Australia. The company wants to dump waste including industrial clothing, calico and plastic bags and cardboard from its uranium exploration site in the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary.

West Australian-based uranium stocks have soared in early trade on news of a pro-uranium government. The Liberal leader, Colin Barnett, has vowed to overturn the state's long running policy banning uranium mining.