Beyond Uranium Canberra. Group calls for an end to Kimba waste plan, wants Inquiry into nuclear waste management
Many thousands of Australians live on transport corridors and have not been informed about the risks or given a say.
The federal regulator has stated that
the ANSTO waste is safe where it is and there is no urgent need to
move it. Further, continuing access to nuclear medicine is not
dependent on a nuclear waste dump and the absence of such a
facility has not hindered the practice of nuclear medicine.
Beyond Uranium Canberra. re National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment (Site Specification, Community Fund and Other Measures) Bill 2020 [Provisions]. Submission No. 59
Beyond Uranium Canberra believes a full independent inquiry into the
best way to manage our most dangerous waste must be held. The
government must stop targeting remote and regional areas and give
Aboriginal people a right of veto for proposals that threaten their
country and culture.
We believe that nuclear power has no role in Australia’s energy future
and is a dangerous distraction from the climate challenges facing
Australia. Although a pro-nuclear NSW upper house inquiry has been
initiated by One Nation MLC Mark Latham who has recommended
removing the state’s long-standing legislative ban on uranium mining
and opening the door to nuclear power, Labor committee members
have reaffirmed their party’s opposition to uranium mining and
nuclear energy.
The inquiry report recommends the repeal of the Uranium Mining and
Nuclear Facilities (Prohibitions) Act , but a dissenting statement by
Labor committee members states that a ‘Labor Government will
maintain a ban on uranium exploration, extraction and export’ and a
‘Labor Government will not introduce nuclear power in NSW’.
The Australian Conservation Foundation has said Australia is blessed
with outstanding renewable resources and does not need to explore
dangerous nuclear energy options. The state ban on uranium mining
in NSW should remain. Uranium mining in NSW would risk the health
of the environment and regional communities for scant promise of
return. There is little to be gained and a lot to lose. We have no
confidence in nuclear reactor concepts that do not exist in the real
world of civilian electricity production. Small nuclear reactors exist on
paper, in corporate funding pitches and on military submarines – they
are not a credible response to the climate crisis.
Australia’s embattled uranium sector has been hard hit by the
commodity price collapse that followed the 2011 Fukushima nuclear
crisis, which was fuelled by Australian uranium. Since then uranium
operations have been routinely deferred or scrapped in jurisdictions
A broad coalition of civil society organisations, representing millions
of Australians, last year declared nuclear power has no role in
Australia’s energy future and is a dangerous distraction from real
progress on the climate challenges facing Australia.
Most of Australia’s waste is currently produced and stored at Lucas
Heights, south of Sydney, and ANSTO has acknowledged it can be
managed on-site for decades. The federal regulator has stated that
the ANSTO waste is safe where it is and there is no urgent need to
move it. Further, continuing access to nuclear medicine is not
dependent on a nuclear waste dump and the absence of such a
facility has not hindered the practice of nuclear medicine.
Most Australians are opposed, and affected communities are deeply divided.
Many thousands of Australians live on transport corridors and have not been informed about the risks or given a say. The ‘broad community consent’ the federal minister seeks does not exist.
Employment promises are deeply implausible and have been
repeatedly inflated. Agriculture and tourism are both market-sensitive
sectors and any planned facility could negatively impact these
industries.
A full independent inquiry into the best way to manage our most
dangerous waste must be held. The government must stop targeting
remote and regional areas and give Aboriginal people a right of veto
for proposals that threaten their country and culture. There are
significant cultural heritage concerns at and opposition from many
Aboriginal Traditional Owners where mining is allowed.
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