21-545: The Pinkawillinie Conservation Park is 60 kilometres (37 mi) west of Kimba on the inland side of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia . The park encompasses 130 000 hectares and abuts the Gawler Ranges National Park to the north west. There is limited 2wd access to the park and no facilities. The conservation park is categorised as an IUCN Category VI protected area . In 1980, it
42-404: Is located north of Goyder's Line , where precipitation is less than the total potential evapotranspiration . Winter rainfall is essential for cereal (predominantly wheat and barley with some oats and canola ) agriculture. Grazing is also practised, largely that of merino sheep for wool production with smaller amounts of cattle grazing. Water for stock is sourced solely from rainfall due to
63-405: Is to be considered at a later time, means demolition of the reactor containment structure and reactor building, rendering the reactor site a green-field site. The full Phase B decommissioning was expected to be completed by about year 2030. On 12 August 2006 Open-pool Australian lightwater reactor (OPAL), the 20 MW replacement reactor located on an adjacent site, went critical. OPAL is served by
84-634: Is unsuitable for agriculture and comprises the Pinkawillinie Conservation Park . Locally grey loams and gypsum bearing flats are developed, with minor evaporites surrounding playa lakes, such as Lake Gilles at the eastern end of the district. Small rounded hills in the form of Wild Dog Hill occur in the Kelly region to the east of Kimba township, with two ranges, Botanella Hills and the Wilcherry Range comprising uplands to
105-669: The Kimba Institute in September, and an award is presented to a local artist. In 2017, the art prize received 150 entries from around South Australia and interstate. In 2017 a 30-metre (98 ft) high mural was completed on the town's grain silos by Melbourne artist Cam Scale, part of the silo art projects that extend across South Australia and Victoria . Kimba has a mediterranean-influenced semi-arid climate ( Köppen: BSk/Csa), with very warm, dry summers and mild, somewhat wetter winters. Temperatures vary throughout
126-529: The Kimba district were nominated in 2017 for a proposed National Radioactive Waste Management Facility, to store low-level and intermediate-level nuclear waste . One is owned by Brett and Michelle Rayner, and the other is owned by Andrew and Dale Baldock. A third proposed site was located at Barndioota in the Flinders Ranges . In 2017, a Kimba town vote demonstrated support for further investigation of
147-484: The area was explorer Edward John Eyre , who passed through the area on his passage from Streaky Bay to the head of Spencer Gulf in late 1839. The area was first settled in the 1870s by lease-holding pastoralists who moved north up the Eyre Peninsula during the 1870s and 1880s. They lightly stocked the land and relied on the limited water supplies and intermittent open grass lands to raise their stock. It
168-554: The highway near the town. Kimba is located in the federal division of Grey , the state electoral district of Giles and the local government area of the District Council of Kimba . The word "kimba" is derived from the local Aboriginal word for "bushfire", and the District Council of Kimba's emblem reflects this in the form of a burning bush. The town was built on Barngarla lands. The first European in
189-483: The location to permanently store low-level waste. The facility would also temporarily store intermediate-level waste from Lucas Heights nuclear reactor, until a suitable permanent site was found. The federal government is allocating a A$ 31 million community development package to boost the skills of local businesses and workers to build and run the facility. The facility would cost A$ 200 million , and create 45 jobs during construction and 25 ongoing jobs. In 2023
210-737: The north east. The Gawler Ranges located in the pastoral country to the far north, the Cleve Uplands to the south, and the Corrobinnie Depression comprise distinct geomorphic boundaries to the District Council of Kimba . High Flux Australian Reactor The High Flux Australian Reactor ( HIFAR ) was Australia's first nuclear research reactor . It was built at the Australian Atomic Energy Commission (AAEC) research establishment at Lucas Heights , Sydney , New South Wales . The reactor
231-568: The paucity of reliable groundwater in the district. The Kimba district is dominated by calcareous earths, containing distinctive calcrete profiles and varying degrees of development, with minor ferruginous red-brown earths and local pisolitic regions. The major exception is to the south west of the Kimba District, within the Corrobinnie Depression , a palaeochannel which is now filled with deep sands. Much of this region
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#1732791397083252-549: The project was cancelled after Barngarla traditional owners won a case against its construction in the Federal Court. Kimba is situated on the traditional lands of the Barngarla people . An 8-metre (26 ft) large-scale public artwork known as "The Big Galah " welcomes visitors to Kimba as they enter the township. The Kimba Art Prize is held annually by the District Council of Kimba. Selected works are displayed in
273-532: The prospect. The result of the vote was 396 to 294 in favour. Opposition to the project has been expressed by community groups No Radioactive Waste on Agricultural Land in Kimba or SA and the Against Radioactive Waste Action Group . On 1 February 2020 federal resources minister, Matt Canavan , announced that 160 hectares (400 acres) of Jeff Baldock's Napandee property, 20 kilometres (12 mi) west of Kimba, would provide
294-727: The year, with average maxima between 31.6 °C (88.9 °F) in January and 15.5 °C (59.9 °F) in July, and average minima between 16.0 °C (60.8 °F) in February and 5.0 °C (41.0 °F) in July. Annual precipitation is low, averaging 345.7 mm (13.61 in), between 85.6 precipitation days- primarily concentrated in winter. The town has 99.4 clear days and 111.6 cloudy days annually. Extreme temperatures have ranged from 47.0 °C (116.6 °F) on 24 January 2019 to −1.7 °C (28.9 °F) on 15 July 1968. Kimba
315-560: Was also a graphite neutron reflector surrounding the core. Like DIDO, its original purpose was nuclear materials testing, using its high neutron flux to give materials intended for use in nuclear power reactors their entire expected lifetime neutron exposure in a relatively short period. HIFAR was used for research, particularly neutron diffraction experiments, production of neutron transmutation doped (NTD) silicon, and for production of medical and industrial radioisotopes . HIFAR went critical at 11:15 pm local time on 26 January 1958, and
336-472: Was connected by narrow gauge railway to Port Lincoln . This development encouraged a number of new wheat farmers to move into the area. Two years later the township of Kimba was officially proclaimed and service industries began to move into the district. Education within the town is provided by the Kimba Area School where around 170 students from reception to year 12 attend. Two properties in
357-436: Was first run at full power of 10 MW (thermal) in 1960. The initial fuel was highly enriched uranium, but over the years the enrichment level of new fuel was steadily reduced, in line with international trends designed to reduce the danger of diversion of research reactor fuel for weapons programs. HIFAR completed conversion to low enriched uranium fuel (LEU) in 2006. Of the six DIDO class reactors built including DIDO itself, HIFAR
378-645: Was in operation between 1958 and 2007, when it was decommissioned and replaced with the multi-purpose Open-pool Australian lightwater reactor (OPAL), also in Lucas Heights. Both HIFAR and its successor OPAL have been known simply as the Lucas Heights reactor . Based on the DIDO reactor at Harwell in the UK, HIFAR was cooled and moderated by heavy water ( D 2 O ), and the fuel was enriched uranium . There
399-648: Was listed on the now-defunct Register of the National Estate . Kimba, South Australia Kimba is a rural service town on the Eyre Highway at the top of Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia with an annual rainfall of 348 millimetres (13.7 in). There is an 8-metre (26 ft) tall statue of a galah beside the highway, marking halfway between the east and west coasts of Australia . The Gawler Ranges are north of
420-423: Was more intensively settled for wheat farming from 1908, when overseas demand for wheat increased in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The large tracts of mallee scrub began to be cleared to facilitate this, and soon regular mail services were established from the port at Cowell . Bags of wheat had to be loaded onto bullock drays which carried the produce to Cowell 76 km south. In 1913, Kimba
441-415: Was the last to cease operation. Permanent decommissioning of HIFAR commenced on 30 January 2007 and is expected to be completed by 2025. In the second half of 2023, a licence application for HIFAR Phase A decommissioning was considered by ARPANSA . Phase A decommissioning means decommissioning of the peripheral plant and equipment associated with the reactor. The Phase B decommissioning, licence to which
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