My Nuclear Talks

My Background in Nuclear Science

My parents created me just before the nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Perhaps as a result, a little nuclear science has seeped into my life ever since. I held a bar of uranium in my hands when I was 14, having won a scholarship to Prof Messel’s first Summer Science School for high school students. As part of that honour, we were taken on a tour of the nuclear facilities at Lucas Heights. It was the weight of the bar that I remember most, its density making it deceptively heavier than expected. We met and heard Werner von Braun of NASA fame teach us about how he would get man on the moon.

After obtaining a science honours degree biochemistry and the chemistry prize at the University of New England, I obtained a prestigious medical research position. Gradually over time, my career moved through a number of pharmaceutical companies, to food production, agriculture and finally, over 30 years ago, into environmental science. I have used radio isotopes in my research. I was lucky enough to lead dozens of big environmental projects in Asia. As a result, I acted as the specialist witness for the environmental assessment process in a High Court test case in Asia. We won and the case was praised by Time magazine as one of the best environmental decisions in its decade anywhere in the world.

I became head of the technical division and an independent regulator of mining in the Northern Territory in 2001 and discovered just how clean modern uranium mining actually is. All the nasty rumours I had heard about Ranger were not true. I retired as the Acting Director of Mining Evaluation in 2005.

In 2009, my scientist husband and I visited every type of nuclear power facility in Sweden especially waste storage facilities. I was impressed! I felt nuclear power was great for places like Sweden with their careful long-term thinking but not for Australia. The more I research the issues, the more I think Australia should at least have proper conversation about it. We need to know the facts and closely look at the false fears we have been fed for over 30 years.

I am an environmental scientist passionate about the future of our planet. I am not an expert in the field of nuclear power, but my knowledge when I first started my current journey, was probably far greater than the majority of the general public. I have felt a need to share some of my journey as without at least basic knowledge, we cannot have a proper discussion about nuclear power.

Having seen the devastation wind power projects are doing to the Great Dividing Range including its biodiversity, I am now a strong supporter of nuclear power for Australia.

*To unsubscribe, just hit the subscribed button.

• ShareCopied to clipboard