Coal-fired plant worker debunks myths as Coalition pushes nuclear plan with high paying jobs
A coal worker reveals what its truly like to fish in a lake used by a nuclear facility, as the Coalition explains how and why it plans to build nuclear power plants in Australia.
Environment
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Exclusive: The federal Coalition has opened up a fresh front in its energy policy battle with the Albanese government, arguing that unlike solar and wind, nuclear can provide high-paying jobs for most of Australia’s coal-fired plant workers.
The Opposition has also accused Labor of fear mongering through the sharing of social media posts that reference three-eyed fish, instead of speaking to people who feed their families with what they catch in lakes also used by nuclear plants.
Liberal leader Peter Dutton in June vowed to build seven reactors across Australia – on the sites of former or current coal-fired stations – insisting that he was “very happy for the election to be a referendum on energy, on nuclear, on power prices, on lights going out, on who has a sustainable pathway for our country going forward.”
In the next phase of its public pitch, the Coalition will present itself as the only side with a credible plan for regional communities most at risk in the transition to alternative energy sources.
A key piece of evidence it will advance to support its case comes from the US Department of Energy (DoE), which earlier this year said transitioning a coal plant to nuclear would “create additional higher paying jobs at the plant, create hundreds of additional jobs locally, and spur millions of dollars in increased revenues and economic activity in the host community.”
The DoE also said that “with planning and support for training, most workers at an existing coal plant should be able to transition to work at a replacement nuclear plant.”
Separate American research from the politically unaligned Bipartisan Policy Center estimated 77 per cent of coal-plant jobs were transferable to nuclear plants.
In Australia, about 6600 people worked in fossil-fuel electricity generation at the time of the last census in 2021.
Opposition climate change and energy spokesman Ted O’Brien said the US findings “should provide enormous confidence to those workers, their families and communities.
“As a nation we have to be humble enough to learn from other countries who are more experienced using zero emissions nuclear technology than we are, and that includes the US and Canada,” Mr O’Brien said.
“For now we are dealing with a government that is isolating Australia internationally by taking an ideological approach in opposition to this proven technology.
“It’s sad and it’s embarrassing and it sells Australia short, stripping workers and communities of economic opportunities for their futures.”
He stressed that he was opposed to the early closure of coal plants.
Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen rubbished the Coalition’s plan.
“Mr O’Brien himself admits he wouldn’t get a nuclear reactor up and running until the late 2030s and even this is a fantasy,” Mr Bowen said. “He’s selling snake oil.
“When I travel around the country, whether it’s Port Augusta, Lithgow, Gladstone or Muswellbrook, I don’t hear communities asking for investment in jobs 20 years from now. I hear them saying they want to see the jobs and opportunities now.
“That’s what the Albanese government is doing by investing in future jobs for Australians now.”
Mr O’Brien has visited North America, including Ontario in Canada, to investigate the nuclear option.
Ontario gets the majority of its power from nuclear. One of the “authorised nuclear operators” controlling its largest plant is Dan Campbell, who used to work at an Ontario coal-fired station.
Mr Campbell said he personally knew 50 people now employed at Bruce Nuclear Generating Station after transferring from the coal plant he used to work at. Other people he had worked with at the coal plant had transitioned to different nuclear reactors, he added.
He said he regularly fished in the lake used by the Bruce station.
His family ate the salmon he caught in the lake for dinner this week.
“There are no three-eyed fish in the lake,” Mr Campbell said. “That’s pretty far-fetched.”
The 38-year-old said he wasn’t offended at the inference.
“It just means that there needs to be more education and experience of what life is like living around these power plants,” he said.
Dale Reid, who works at a coal-fired power plant in Queensland, recently heard directly from Mr Dutton about the Coalition’s plans during a community meeting at Biloela.
Mr Reid said he thought workers “would like to see something like nuclear, but Peter Dutton has a lot more work to do.”
The main positive was that nuclear power could deliver employment.
“Ongoing jobs for the community is a good thing,” Mr Reid said, especially for his work colleagues who were in their 20s.
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