Clarence Valley Council to declare Clarence Valley nuclear-free zone after close vote

A northern NSW councillor has criticised her council’s effort to ban nuclear energy as “pointless” symbolism which does nothing to address ratepayer concerns. But she was in the minority.

The Clarence Valley has now been declared a nuclear-free zone. Picture: Lindsay Moller.

A northern NSW councillor has slammed her council’s push to forbid nuclear energy as “pointless” and a “symbolic statement” which does nothing to address ratepayer concerns.

This week Clarence Valley Council became embroiled in a heated debate about whether to declare the region a nuclear-free zone.

There has not been any plans flagged for nuclear-related activity in the local government area, whether power or waste disposal.

Councillor Karen Toms was one of the councillors to speak against the motion.

Councillor Karen Toms said during the meeting that the motion was “pointless”.

She said if the state or federal government wanted the Clarence to be home to nuclear power the final decision would be out of council’s purview anyway.

“(This is) a completely a symbolic statement,” she said on Tuesday.

“It really does nothing … this is just ‘look at me, look at me, we’re going to be nuclear free’.

“Let’s stick to the things where we do have the power and make differences to our community.”

The motion was put forward by the Clarence Valley Climate Change Advisory Committee.

Meeting documents detail similar action by other local governments and state that Ipswich City Council became the first to make a nuclear-free declaration in 1982.

A nuclear power plant in France. Picture: Guillaume Souvant.

“Essentially declaring a nuclear-free zone is a statement of principle, saying that the LGA does not support the use, storage of or transportation through the LGA of nuclear weapons, high and intermediate level radioactive waste or material, including the development of nuclear power plants,” council documents state.

“Power generated from nuclear sources is recognised as having very low greenhouse emissions.”

The committee stated it believed the recommendations reflected “general community concern with the health and safety and environmental impacts of nuclear energy and its waste”.

Speaking in support, councillor Steve Pickering said he initially “didn’t know what to make” of the motion when he saw it on the agenda.

But he recalled his “first steps into politics as a young whippersnapper”, when Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior was sunk by the French government in Auckland Harbour in 1985.

“I remember as a 13-year-old ringing talk back radio and urging my community to support making New Zealand a nuclear-free zone,” Mr Pickering said.

Clarence Valley Deputy Mayor Greg Clancy supported the motion.

Deputy Mayor Greg Clancy also backed the motion and said it was “a really important issue”.

“I think the community, generally, would not want a nuclear power plant in the Clarence Valley,” he said.

“It has been talked about, it’s not just pie in the sky and now that we’ve opened up to nuclear submarines, anything is possible.”

Mr Clancy said at the meeting nuclear power should not be seen as an alternative to forms of renewable energy, such as wind and solar.

“If we were to go nuclear, it would take many decades to get a nuclear plant going and then we would have to dispose of the waste … that lasts for hundreds of thousands of years,” he said.

“The other issue is if we go with nuclear we encourage the mining of uranium and we’ve found that has been a real blight on the environment, particularly up at Kakadu National Park.”

Councillor Peter Johnstone joined Ms Toms in speaking against the motion.

He said nuclear energy was an effective way to reduce the use of fossil fuels because of the long lifespan of production facilities.

The motion was voted through on a narrow four to five margin.

In support were Mayor Ian Tiley, Mr Clancy, Mr Pickering, William Day, Steve Pickering and Jeff Smith. Debrah Novak and Allison Whaites alongside Mr Johnstone and Ms Toms.