Maralinga Range, nuclear weapons test "Wewak" relict

Australia / Northern Territory / Yulara /
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The british nuclear weapon test site "Wewak" was used 1959-1961 for safety test on complete weapons by fire and explosion. Like the Taranaki site, it was highly contaminated with radioactive material too. There were even large fragments of plutonium lying in this aera due to the explosion safety tests. The area is still contaminated today too, even though it was cleaned extensively in 1993 like other places near by. During cleaning, the complete vegetation was removed, as you can still see here. Today the area is still contaminated and shows elevated radiation levels due to decay products, mainly Americium 241. The whole area should not be visited.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_nuclear_tests_at_Maralinga
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   29°57'23"S   131°42'54"E

Comments

  • More info: http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Uk/UKTesting.html
  • Wrong State - This should be under World/Australia/South Australia NOT World/Australia/Northern Territory
This article was last modified 6 years ago