USS Ronald Reagan's jellyfish entrainment incident in Brisbane, January 2006
Dan Monceaux made this Freedom of Information request to Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency
This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.
Dear Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency FoI Officers,
I am writing to request all documentation including, but not limited to, inbound and outbound correspondence, analyses, reports and attachments associated with the entrainment of jellyfish in the cooling system of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan which occurred while the vessel was in the Port of Brisbane in January 2006.
I am making this request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.
Yours sincerely,
Dan Monceaux
Dan Monceaux left an annotation ()
The normal response period has now lapsed. Still no acknowledgment of my request.
Dear Mr Monceaux,
We have received your request to obtain documents related to all documentation including, but not limited to, inbound and outbound correspondence, analyses, reports and attachments associated with the entrainment of jellyfish in the cooling system of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan which occurred while the vessel was in the Port of Brisbane in January 2006.
I can confirm that the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) has not been able to locate any documents which fall within the scope of your request.
Releases of jellyfish would not usually be something ARPANSA would have visibility of as ARPANSA only provides emergency preparedness and response support in the event of a nuclear accident during a nuclear warship visit.
Section 24A of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 provides, in part, that:
(1) An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access to a document if:
(a) all reasonable steps have been taken to find the document; and
(b) the agency or Minister is satisfied that the document:
(i) is in the agency’s or Minister’s possession but cannot be found; or
(ii) does not exist
I must therefore refuse access, pursuant to section 24A of the FOI Act on the basis that the document[s] sought do not exist or cannot be found. You are entitled to seek review of this decision and your rights in this regard are set out the attachment to this email.
Regards,
Martin
Martin Reynolds
General Counsel
Office of the General Counsel
Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency
619 Lower Plenty Road, Yallambie VIC 3085 AUSTRALIA
Phone +61 3 9433 2349
[mobile number]
email [email address]
www.arpansa.gov.au
Important: This message may contain confidential information or legally privileged information. If you think it was sent to you by mistake, please delete all copies and advise the sender. For the purposes of the SPAM Act 2003, this email is authorised by ARPANSA.
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Monceaux [mailto:[FOI #3745 email]]
Sent: Tuesday, 25 July 2017 3:00 PM
To: $ARPANSA FOI <[ARPANSA request email]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - USS Ronald Reagan's jellyfish entrainment incident in Brisbane, January 2006
Dear Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency FoI Officers,
I am writing to request all documentation including, but not limited to, inbound and outbound correspondence, analyses, reports and attachments associated with the entrainment of jellyfish in the cooling system of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan which occurred while the vessel was in the Port of Brisbane in January 2006.
I am making this request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.
Yours sincerely,
Dan Monceaux
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #3745 email]
Is [ARPANSA request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests to Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency? If so, please contact us using this form:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/change_re...
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
***********************************************************************************
Important: This email (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of the
addressee and may contain confidential and / or privileged information. If you are
not the intended addressee, you are prohibited from relaying on, distributing,
disclosing, copying or in any other way using any information in this email. If you have
received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and erase all copies.
Any opinions expressed in this email are not necessarily held or authorised by Australian
Radiation Protection And Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA).
Whilst ARPANSA has taken all reasonable steps to ensure this is email is virus free,
it accepts no responsibility and makes no warranty. The recipient should take its own
steps to ensure there is no virus and bears full responsibility for any use.
Australian Radiation Protection And Nuclear Safety Agency
***********************************************************************************
Dear Martin,
Thankyou for your response regarding this incident. While I appreciate that no documents were found, I would like to clarify my reasoning for directing this request to ARPANSA.
It is my understanding that interruption of cooling system operation, the likes of which could be caused by entrainment/entrapment events, elevate nuclear risk.
Would the Australian Department of Defence possibly hold records regarding this event, or should I direct my inquiry to the US DoD?
Yours sincerely,
Dan Monceaux
Dear Mr Monceaux,
ARPANSA does not have regulatory jurisdiction over events that occur onboard a visiting naval ship; however as the Australian Department of Defence coordinate and oversee US visiting nuclear warships it is possible they may have some knowledge of the event you describe.
Equally, given the warship is essentially US territory it may be that only the US Department of Defense or the US Navy have records relating to your request. I am unsure as to whether the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has any jurisdiction over US naval ships on duty overseas.
Regards,
Martin
Martin Reynolds
General Counsel
Office of the General Counsel
Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency
619 Lower Plenty Road, Yallambie VIC 3085 AUSTRALIA
Phone +61 3 9433 2349
[mobile number]
email [email address]
www.arpansa.gov.au
Important: This message may contain confidential information or legally privileged information. If you think it was sent to you by mistake, please delete all copies and advise the sender. For the purposes of the SPAM Act 2003, this email is authorised by ARPANSA.
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Monceaux [mailto:[FOI #3745 email]]
Sent: Wednesday, 18 October 2017 1:07 PM
To: $ARPANSA FOI <[ARPANSA request email]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - USS Ronald Reagan's jellyfish entrainment incident in Brisbane, January 2006 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Dear Martin,
Thankyou for your response regarding this incident. While I appreciate that no documents were found, I would like to clarify my reasoning for directing this request to ARPANSA.
It is my understanding that interruption of cooling system operation, the likes of which could be caused by entrainment/entrapment events, elevate nuclear risk.
Would the Australian Department of Defence possibly hold records regarding this event, or should I direct my inquiry to the US DoD?
Yours sincerely,
Dan Monceaux
-----Original Message-----
Dear Mr Monceaux,
We have received your request to obtain documents related to all documentation including, but not limited to, inbound and outbound correspondence, analyses, reports and attachments associated with the entrainment of jellyfish in the cooling system of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan which occurred while the vessel was in the Port of Brisbane in January 2006.
I can confirm that the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) has not been able to locate any documents which fall within the scope of your request.
Releases of jellyfish would not usually be something ARPANSA would have visibility of as ARPANSA only provides emergency preparedness and response support in the event of a nuclear accident during a nuclear warship visit.
Section 24A of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 provides, in part, that:
(1) An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access to a document if:
(a) all reasonable steps have been taken to find the document; and
(b) the agency or Minister is satisfied that the document:
(i) is in the agency’s or Minister’s possession but cannot be found; or
(ii) does not exist
I must therefore refuse access, pursuant to section 24A of the FOI Act on the basis that the document[s] sought do not exist or cannot be found. You are entitled to seek review of this decision and your rights in this regard are set out the attachment to this email.
Regards,
Martin
Martin Reynolds
General Counsel
Office of the General Counsel
Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency
619 Lower Plenty Road, Yallambie VIC 3085 AUSTRALIA
Phone +61 3 9433 2349
[mobile number]
email [email address]
www.arpansa.gov.au
Important: This message may contain confidential information or legally privileged information. If you think it was sent to you by mistake, please delete all copies and advise the sender. For the purposes of the SPAM Act 2003, this email is authorised by ARPANSA.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #3745 email]
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
***********************************************************************************
Important: This email (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of the
addressee and may contain confidential and / or privileged information. If you are
not the intended addressee, you are prohibited from relaying on, distributing,
disclosing, copying or in any other way using any information in this email. If you have
received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and erase all copies.
Any opinions expressed in this email are not necessarily held or authorised by Australian
Radiation Protection And Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA).
Whilst ARPANSA has taken all reasonable steps to ensure this is email is virus free,
it accepts no responsibility and makes no warranty. The recipient should take its own
steps to ensure there is no virus and bears full responsibility for any use.
Australian Radiation Protection And Nuclear Safety Agency
***********************************************************************************
Dan Monceaux left an annotation ()
As of 22 August, I am yet to receive acknowledgement of this request.