It’s Trev’s birthday at Mawson zoo and the station has gone wild! Despite the animals getting out, daily ARPANSA testing must still happen. No expeditioners were harmed in the creation of this week’s news.

Mawson goes wild for Trev’s birthday

Recently our SCTO (supervising communications technical officer), Trev, celebrated his birthday on station. Being a country boy, we thought he might be missing all the wildlife from back home. So to celebrate, our chef extraordinaire made a magnificent kangaroo cake. The cake contained a secret stash of lollies inside, to add to the deliciousness. To set the scene, the mess was decorated for an animal party. We hope our birthday boy felt right at home!

Kate

What is a SCTO?

Science: Daily ARPANSA testing

At 0900 each morning our supervising communications technical officer Trevor, or station leader John L, conduct testing on behalf of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA). This testing is conducted in accordance with Australia’s commitment to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).

One of the main aims of the CTBTO is to establish a global verification regime to monitor compliance with the comprehensive ban on nuclear testing. The testing at Mawson is radionuclide monitoring where airborne particles are captured for analysis to identify radioactive elements. Specific radioactive elements provide evidence of a nuclear explosion, which could be many kilometres away from Antarctica.

John L

More from Mawson on ARPANSA

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