Sorting out nuclear concerns: The Australian uranium debate from Jervis Bay to Ringwood's Synroc

This paper critically considers the history of nuclear energy in Australia, placing particular emphasis on the strong debate about uranium mining and exporting which occurred between the late 1960s and early 1980s. Though this topic has been already analyzed by different historical studies and through numerous methodological approaches, some issues of the Australian as well as international ‘atomic debate’ which involved civil uses of nuclear power in the second half of the 20th century remain under-investigated. This article, for instance, focuses on the little-known and seldom popularized history of Synroc which, in the late 1970s, was presented as the ‘geological perspective’ to deal with radioactive waste disposal. The matters under discussion here are particularly important because of their links with some key issues still prevalent in the international nuclear debate, such as nuclear safety, atomic weapons proliferation and the safe disposal of nuclear wastes.