http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24852959-954,00.htmlBritish secretly dumped Maralinga plutonium in ocean
Charles Miranda
December 30, 2008 10:00am
NUCLEAR waste from UK tests at Maralinga in the 1950s may have been dumped at sea despite the Federal Government ordering a proper clean-up.
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However, declassified British Government documents to be released publicly today under the 30-year rule reveal for the first time the plutonium's final resting place was probably the ocean floor.
At the height of the nuclear debate in Australia in 1978 the British agreed to clean the site they contaminated between 1955 and 1963, predominantly because they wanted to win favour with then prime minister Malcolm Fraser to secure exports of mined uranium to meet their growing energy needs.
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The British authorities demanded their Australian counterparts maintain maximum secrecy over the issue and reminded them they were under no legal obligation to clean up their contaminated work in Australia.
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Hundreds of servicemen and their families from Britain and Australia have sought compensation for exposure and a range of contracted cancers.
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