The Mt Parish Air-Raid Precaution tunnels once housed a glowing secret…
In the 1950’s, 55 cubic meters of low-level radioactive waste was disposed of in the tunnels.
The waste was comprised mainly of luminous dials and hands of clocks and watches, also smoke detector chambers and lightning conductor heads.
In 1991, a Government report recommended the transfer of the waste to a special dedicated handling facility. On 19 January 2001 a man was found within the tunnels. He was examined at the scene by health physicists, and no radioactivity was found on his body and clothing. After that the Government built a new radioactive waste storage facility on Siu A Chau, and the waste that used to be in the tunnels was transferred to the new facility in 2005
A bit more information about the tunnels:
The Mt Paris tunnels were tunnels built by the Government some time before the Battle of Hong Kong in 1941. Like the other 28 ARP tunnels in Hong Kong, the purpose was to provide protection for citizens from air raids by the Japanese Air Force. The total length of the tunnels is 1.8 km, with two ventilation shafts and 13 portals numbered from 71 to 83, along the slope beside Stubbs Road, Queen's Road East and Kennedy Road. Most of the portals were filled in after the war, leaving only three portals which are currently accessible by related government staff, those with numbers 72, 80 and 81.
In the evening of 24 December 1941, Major-General C.M. Maltby warned that the advancing Japanese forces might use the ARP tunnels for infiltration. The next day, which was Christmas Day, his dispatch reported at noon that Japanese artillery opened up at a large scale, and hand to hand fighting was reported by the defense forces on Mount Parish. Soon Mount Parish fell into Japanese hands. The defense forces then fought around Wan Chai Market in an attempt to stop enemy advance into Central, and at one time fired at the ARP tunnel exits using an 18-pounder gun to force the enemies out the tunnels. However within several hours Maltby advised the Governor that no further military resistance was possible, and the Governor surrendered to the Japanese, ending the Battle.