Nuclear energy a threat to climate and communities - 3 June 2005

Attending a public forum on climate change in Lismore today, Greens MLC Ian Cohen said Premier Bob Carr’s call for a debate on nuclear energy is “mad, bad and dangerous.”

“Nuclear energy is not clean, it is not safe and is possibly more dangerous than coal-fired power as recent nuclear disasters have shown.”

Mr Cohen said north coast communities had enough to deal with without worrying about Bob Carr overturning current laws that ban nuclear energy in NSW.

“Debate on the merits of nuclear power ended in 1986 when nuclear energy is NSW was outlawed. It was also the same year a reactor at the Chernobyl Power Station exploded, exposing the region to radiation levels 100 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.”

“Communities on the north coast of NSW will have to deal with the impacts of rising sea levels and storm surges along the full length of the coast. Because there is a narrow continental shelf limit along the NSW coast, large wind-driven waves may have a significant impact in the future.”

Mr Cohen, who was a member of a NSW Parliamentary Inquiry on transport and storage of nuclear waste last year, said the Premier has forgotten about the level of community opposition to nuclear power and its dangerous waste.

“A key recommendation out of the NSW inquiry called on the Carr Government to legislate against any planned federal transport of radioactive waste and to clearly indicate its opposition to any planned nuclear waste facility in NSW. The same level of feeling exists toward nuclear power. It is simply not wanted.”


Further Information: Paul Sheridan, 0410 516 656