5 Reasons Nuclear Reactors are not the answer
The federal coalition has announced it will shortly release a detailed policy on Nuclear Reactors, in the meantime they have been drip feeding policy details on an almost daily basis. This tells us that they are serious about introducing nuclear reactors to Australia’s energy mix.
Nuclear reactors are prohibitively expensive: The CSIRO, AEMO and others have established that nuclear reactors are the most expensive option for generating electricity in Australia. It will take massive multibillion dollar subsidies, paid for with your tax dollars, to generate interest from (an almost certainly foreign) corporations to build and operate a nuclear reactor. None of Australia’s current electricity generators is interested in nuclear reactors. South Australian Premier, Peter Malinuskas, recently said “I think we should acknowledge that nuclear power would make energy more expensive in our nation and put it to one side, rather than have a culture war debate…”.
Delayed action on Climate Change – burning coal, oil, and gas: Why talk about nuclear reactors when they are the most expensive option? The federal coalition has been attacking large scale renewable energy projects at the same time as pushing for nuclear reactors. This is creating massive uncertainty in the corporate world and threatens new renewable projects. If this uncertainty continues there may be no new renewable energy projects under a federal coalition government. Reactors will take at least 20 years to be built and become operational meaning we will continue to burn coal and gas for at least another 20 years. Several federal coalition members, including shadow ministers, have called for coal and gas to continue to be burned until the nuclear reactors come online.
We are already on the pathway to a renewable future: Australia is well into the process of switching to renewable energy. Today the electricity grid draws 40% of its electricity from renewable sources. Last year at least 15 renewable energy or storage projects were commissioned to add more electricity to the grid. There are 81 renewable projects under construction or due to start. The federal coalition wants to use its nuclear reactor policy to derail this progress on climate change and ending the burning of fossil fuels.
Nuclear waste: The Federal Coalition don’t want to talk about it but another problem with nuclear reactors is the extremely toxic radioactive waste that they generate. This cost, which will be billions of dollars, has not been factored into the cost of nuclear reactors, making the electricity they produce even more expensive. Australia has been unable to find a permanent nuclear waste dump site for several decades already, it isn’t going to get easier. We can’t dispose of the low-level radioactive waste from our medical reactor at Lucas Heights. Moving waste from reactor to waste dump will mean transporting it through built up areas in towns and cities – nuclear waste in your street anyone?
Indigenous Land: Any uranium mine in Australia will be on indigenous land and created without genuine consultation. It is turned into long-lived radioactive waste which is a cost, risk and burden on future generations.
Federal parliament’s inquiry into uranium heard major concerns from indigenous owners centered on consent, rehabilitation, environmental damage, health risks, poor rehabilitation, destruction of plant and animal life from spills, contaminated water releases to name a few issues.
