PRESS RELEASE (by p.d.smith@student.murdoch.edu.au ) Scientists group takes stand against Pangea The first public appearance of a newly formed group of concerned scientists and students, Scientists and Technologists Against Nuclear Dumping (STAND), will be at the anti-Pangea protest and conference at UWA this Saturday the 21st. The group was formed following the recent tour of Mary Olson, a prominent anti-nuclear campaigner from the United States, who warned of the tremendous risks and minimal gains to be had from the nuclear waste dump proposed by Pangea. Prominent among the concerns of the group is to counter the argument that Pangea have science on their side while their opponents do not. The existence of the new group should go some way toward fighting that myth. The group will be a potential resource for scientific information among the anti-Pangea movement, having a wide variety of people of varying professions and scientific backgounds. We believe that the technology necessary to store this waste safely - for the immense lengths of time the waste is dangerous - does not yet exist and will need many decades of research before it does. The great distances involved in transporting the waste around the world will exacerbate the risk of leakage. What contingency plans does Pangea have if a ship sinks? STAND maintain that the best way at present to store this waste safely is to keep it above ground and closely monitored where it is. It is possible that, in the future, transmutation technologies could be developed to reduce the long-lived waste (according to "New Scientist", 16/01/99, pp31-33, by a factor of 100). Above-ground storage on each continent, for that continent's nuclear waste , better allows the possibility of transmuting it in the future. Far from being a solution to the global waste problem as claimed by Pangea, the dump would be a licence for the nuclear industry to keep producing more. If the WA Government allows the dump to go ahead, WA will not gain the reputation of being good global citizens, it will become known as the world's "nuclear toilet". STAND joins the Anti-Uranium Coalition of WA and the majority of the Western Australian people in condemning the Pangea proposal and calls for the government to remove WA from the nuclear fuel cycle entirely. It can begin this by legislating to make Pangea's proposed dump illegal. Paul Smith also wrote the words below in case we get to say a few words at the press conference: Scientists are sometimes accused of being elitist, of not involving the public in their debates. Most scientists are concerned about this and try not to follow that path. That is not what is occuring this weekend at Pangea's conference here at UWA. Since arriving in Western Australia two years ago, Pangea have conducted themselves in secret, meeting privately with government officials and media representatives, and if not for the actions of a small number of people, their proposal for a nuclear waste dump in WA would still be a secret. The conference being held today is no exception. Only selected members of the scientific community have been invited and it is closed to the public. Are these the actions of responsible scientists, or of nuclear industry supporters desperate to prolong their activities without proper scrutiny? Scientists and Technologists Against Nuclear Dumping, formed in response to Pangea's waste dump proposal, is a group of scientists and science students who are concerned by Pangea's apparent contempt for the public and the wider scientific community. We believe that their proposal is not safe. As responsible scientists and human beings, the members of STAND reject Pangea's dump proposal completely. We call on all concerned scientists to join us. We call on the West Australian government to legislate to make Pangea's proposal illegal. And we call on all Australian people to stand together with the rest of the world and say to the nuclear industry, we will not be involved in your dirty business, not now, not ever.