Olympic Park contamination cover-up

Following on from campaigns against the closure of allotments, destruction of wildlife habitat and complaints from residents that contamination has been released into the environment, the Olympic Development Agency has claimed that there has been no exposure "to increased levels of radiation either through direct contact or dust” from the Olympic Park development.

However documents have revealed that in preparing the site, excavations, transport and storage of waste took place before Local Planning Authority permission had been granted. More than 7,000 tonnes of this waste is now buried in a radioactive storage bunker 250m from Stratford International station. The radioactive waste includes radium, polonium, thorium and uranium. Dilution of radioactivity levels has been achieved by mixing together higher and lower radioactive material. This reduction in level to below the regulated amount is prohibited by the Environment Agency. The ODA have refused requests for radiation monitoring and have used “Heavily Contaminated Area” rather than yellow radiation warning signs where radioactive waste has been found.

Writer Iain Sinclair has long protested against the Olympics and has produced a new film, Gold Dust, of readings from his book Ghost Milk, beautifully accompanied by Bill Parry-Davies on Saxophone. In this 7 minute film Sinclair calls time on London's Grand Olympic Project. He reveals another side to the Olympic landscape, one crisscrossed by trains carrying nuclear waste, siroccos of toxic dust, and other details the authorities would rather we didn't know.