Atlas of Contaminated Sites

Notable case, Maralinga, South Australia, Australia

Maralinga nuclear test site

A range in the South Australian desert where the United Kingdom exploded seven atomic bombs in 1956–1957 and ran hundreds of minor trials until 1963. It was the latter, which scattered plutonium without a nuclear explosion, that left the most lasting contamination on the lands of the Maralinga Tjarutja people.

Status
Remediated
Area
26,000 ha on land1
Activity
1955–1963
Media
soil, living organisms
Kind of site
nuclear, military
  1. Area. Test area of 260 km² inside a range of 52,000 km². After the 2000 clean-up about 120 km² remain safe for access but not for permanent occupancy (Wikipedia).

Contaminants

Metals

Radionuclides

Status

Remediated

Clean-up completed in 2000 at a cost of 108 million Australian dollars: about 3,200 km² were declared safe for unrestricted access, about 120 km² for access but not permanent occupancy. A 2021 study showed that "hot" plutonium particles remain in the soil and can release it slowly.

Story

Maralinga, about 800 km north-west of Adelaide, was the site of seven British nuclear tests: four in Operation Buffalo (September–October 1956) and three in Operation Antler (September–October 1957), with yields between 0.93 and 26.6 kilotons. Alongside these came about 550 minor trials, in which plutonium, uranium, polonium and beryllium were burned or blown apart with conventional explosive to study how they behaved.

The twelve Vixen B trials, carried out at the Taranaki site in 1960, 1961 and 1963, threw jets of molten plutonium tens of metres into the air and made it the most contaminated spot on the range. The material was gathered into 21 pits holding 830 tonnes of debris with about 20 kg of plutonium; roughly another 2 kg stayed scattered on the ground. The British clean-up of 1967 (Operation Brumby) did little more than mix the soil to dilute the contamination and cap the pits.

An Australian royal commission, reporting in 1985, found that work inadequate. In 1994 the Maralinga Tjarutja people received 13.5 million Australian dollars in compensation. Between 1996 and 2000, 350,000 m³ of soil and debris were removed from more than 2 km² and buried in trenches; in situ vitrification was attempted on eleven pits and halted after an explosion in 1999.

Timeline

  1. 1956Operation Buffalo: four detonations between 27 September and 22 October.
  2. 1957Operation Antler: three detonations between 14 September and 9 October.
  3. 1963Last Vixen B trials at Taranaki.
  4. 1967Operation Brumby: the first British clean-up.
  5. 1985Report of the McClelland Royal Commission.
  6. 1994Compensation of 13.5 million Australian dollars to the Maralinga Tjarutja.
  7. 2000The clean-up begun in 1996 is completed.
  8. 20145 November: the handback of the land is completed.

Health

A study by Australia's Department of Veterans' Affairs estimated that only 2% of test participants received more than the current annual limit for occupationally exposed persons (20 mSv). A disputed 1999 study for the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association reported that 30% of the veterans involved had died, mostly in their fifties and of cancer (Wikipedia).

Remediation

  1. 1967soil mixing and pit cappingOperation Brumby: soil mixed to dilute the contamination, the most contaminated soil buried in the Marcoo crater, debris pits capped.
  2. 1996soil removal and trench burialRemoval of 350,000 m³ of soil and debris from more than 2 km² and burial in trenches (1996–2000).
  3. 1999in situ vitrificationIn situ vitrification attempted on eleven debris pits; the technology failed in 1999.

From the literature

Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.

Plants

Fungi

Sources

  1. British nuclear tests at Maralinga, Wikipedia, 2026

Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.