ANSTO is aware of some concerns in the community about the possible implications of last week’s tragic events in the United States for the safety of the HIFAR research reactor, and appreciate that the community seeks assurances on such issues.
Safety assessment of nuclear reactors, in contrast to other buildings in Australia, requires that extreme events such as aircraft crash be analysed and the effectiveness of the design measures shown.
An analysis of the consequences of just such an incident for HIFAR was undertaken in 1997, and reported in the environmental impact analysis prepared for the proposed second Sydney airport at Holsworthy.
That analysis concluded that, even in the unlikely event that an aircraft was able to hit the relatively small target presented by HIFAR, the radiation doses to persons beyond the buffer zone would be relatively low (comparable to natural background radiation in some parts of the world).
If such an event occurred, there are a number of precautions that can be found on ANSTO’s web site and in local libraries, and these would be appropriate and adequate.
Helen Garnett
ANSTO Executive Director
Published: 24/09/2001