Western Australia drafts emergency response for unlikely nuclear submarine radiation leak

Western Australia has published a comprehensive hazard plan that details how emergency services would react to a release of gamma radiation or radioactive iodine from an AUKUS nuclear submarine or warship. The document, posted online last week, covers response actions for locations including the HMAS Stirling naval base, the Henderson defence precinct, Fremantle port and Albany, and outlines steps such as providing iodine tablets, issuing evacuation or shelter-in-place directives, and monitoring potential contamination of local vegetables and milk.

The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency would coordinate the overall effort, while the Department of Health readies iodine stocks for hospitals. The plan estimates the probability of a catastrophic reactor failure at one-in-ten-million per vessel per year, a risk the agency describes as “extremely low.” Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson dismissed concerns, noting no adverse events have ever occurred, and highlighted that reactor cores are designed to prevent explosions. Nuclear physicist Tony Irwin explained that multiple containment layers make a severe release unlikely, but the plan ensures preparedness for an absolute emergency.