South Australia likely to ‘proceed with caution’ towards a nuclear future, Premier Jay Weatherill says

A “PROCEED with caution” decision on controversial plans to develop a high-level nuclear waste storage facility in SA is likely this year, Premier Jay Weatherill has declared.

Premier Jay Weatherill. Picture: Stephen Laffer

• Daniel Wills Opinion: Nuclear dump decision could be years away

A “PROCEED with caution” decision on controversial plans to develop a high-level nuclear waste storage facility in SA is likely this year, Premier Jay Weatherill has declared.

In an exclusive interview with The Advertiser before leaving tonight for a tour of the world’s first long-term nuclear waste storage facility in Finland, Mr Weatherill said he believed there was a groundswell of support in SA to continue the debate on a nuclear future.

He stressed that no formal government decision had been reached, and it would be strongly influenced by a second citizens’ jury report, but abandoning the concept looked unlikely.

The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission final report handed down in May concluded the state could conservatively make $100 billion in profits from taking the world’s high-level waste.

But it has sparked an angry response from environmentalists and elements of Mr Weatherill’s own Labor Left faction, who are demanding the concept be dropped entirely.

Premier Weatherill says there is a groundswell of support for the state to pursue a nuclear future.

Mr Weatherill set a self-imposed deadline of year’s end to decide on the “threshold question” of if the proposal should advance, and has now given his strongest indication yet that it will.

“There will be some points where you start to take irrevocable steps, but there are sort of gateways,” he said.

“We could just say ‘no, that’s it, we’re not going any further’, or we could say ‘yes, we’re prepared to take the next step’. So, that becomes the first question.

“There’s a red light, there’s a green light and there’s a sort of amber light of ‘proceed with caution’.

“My impression is that there is a growing willingness in the community to engage in this discussion, and to at least take the next step in the public debate.”

Those next steps are likely to include meetings with countries which could pay SA to take their waste, and deeper analyses of where a dump could be located and public safety concerns.

Any State Government decision to proceed must first pass a meeting of Labor’s state convention, expected to be held next month.

SA Unions boss Joe Szakacs went public on Wednesday with concerns about the nuclear business case and suggested members may mount a protest. Labor backbencher and former minister Steph Key has also raised opposition.

An Advertiser-Galaxy poll in February found 48 per cent of respondents backed the idea of nuclear storage in SA. Thirty-nine per cent were against and 13 per cent uncommitted.

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said Mr Weatherill should remain in Adelaide to deal with the fallout of the Child Protection Systems royal commission, as Parliament returns.

Learn more: Nuclear Dossier