The Legacy of Early Uranium Efforts in Australia, 1906–1945: From Radium Hill to the Atomic Bomb and Today

Abstract

The existence of uranium minerals has been documented in Australia since the late nineteenth century, and uranium-bearing ores were discovered near Olary ('Radium Hill') and in the Gammon Ranges (Mount Painter) in north-eastern South Australia early in the twentieth century. This occurred shortly after the discovery of radioactivity and the isolation of radium, and a mining rush for radium quickly began. At Radium Hill, ore was mined and concentrated on site before being transported to Woolwich in Sydney, where the radium and uranium were extracted and refined. At Mount Painter, the richness of the ore allowed direct export overseas. The fledgling Australian radium industry encountered many difficulties, with the scale of operations generally much smaller than at overseas counterparts. Remoteness, difficulties in treating the ore, lack of reliable water supplies and labour shortages all characterized the various attempts at exploitation over a period of about 25 years to the early 1930s. Hope in the potential of the industry, however, was eternal. When the British were working with the Americans during the Second World War to develop the atomic bomb, they secretly requested Australia to undertake urgent and extensive studies into the potential supply of uranium. This led to no exports but it did lay the groundwork for Australia's post-war uranium industry that has dominated the nation's nuclear diplomacy ever since. Some three decades later, the modest quantity of radioactive waste remaining at Woolwich was rediscovered, creating a difficult urban radioactive waste dilemma. The history of both the pre-war radium–uranium industry and Australia's involvement in the war-time exploration work is reviewed, as well as the radioactive waste problems resulting from these efforts, which, despite their relatively small scale, persist and present challenges in more modern times.