TT was recently leafing through a magazine article written by Dr Stuart Blanch from the Environment Centre of the Northern Territory, when the good doctor imparted a piece of information that made us come over all queasy. It seems that Energy Resources of Australia - who run the Ranger uranium mine only a couple of punt kicks away from the Gunbalanya community in West Arnhem Land - admit that the tailings dam at the mine is leaking up to 100,000 litres of water a day, and that the same tailings dam holds water with over 5,000 times the background concentration of uranium.

We were skiving off from school the day they taught nuclear physics, but even to our untutored ear this doesn't sound like a very good thing. Readers will doubtless be reassured by the mining company's advice that there is no real risk of this water polluting surrounding wetlands and rivers.