Premier Bob Carr must now withdraw his call for a debate on nuclear energy following his admission today that nuclear industry is outlawed in NSW, Greens MLC Ian Cohen said.
“The Premier’s diversion tactics in calling for a debate on nuclear energy have been laid bare and he has had to concede that laws set up in 1986 outlaw any type of nuclear industry, including mining uranium, building a nuclear waste dump and a nuclear power station.
“The Premier must now withdraw his call for a debate on nuclear energy because it cannot ever happen in NSW.”
The Uranium Mining and Nuclear Facilities (Prohibitions) Act 1986 prohibits anyone to “construct or operate, or to approve or permit the construction or operation of, a nuclear reactor for the purpose of generating electricity or any other form of energy.”
“Debate on the merits of nuclear power ended in 1986 when a reactor at the Chernobyl Power Station exploded, exposing the region to radiation levels 100 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb,” Mr Cohen said.
“Nuclear power leaves a toxic legacy to all future generations, because it produces global warming gases, because it is far more expensive than any other form of electricity generation, because it can trigger proliferation of nuclear weapons, and because when accidents do and have happened, people die.”
Mr Cohen, who was a member of a NSW Parliamentary Inquiry on Transport and Storage of Nuclear Waste last year, said the Carr Government has failed to act on key Inquiry recommendations.
“The Inquiry’s final report called on the Carr Government to legislate against transport and storage of radioactive waste in NSW. The Premier, however, has failed to act, despite the inquiry report being tabled more than a 12 months ago.
“The only reason the Federal Government is now considering NSW is because South Australia was successful last year with legislation and a High Court challenge to ban both a waste dump and road transport of nuclear waste.
Further Information: Paul Sheridan, 0410 516 656
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