Business should be allowed to determine if nuclear power can feed into state’s energy mix, MP Beverley McArthur says

Victoria has lost an opportunity to investigate the efficacy of nuclear power and determine if it will be viable source to supplement the state’s base load energy needs.

Victoria has lost an opportunity to investigate the efficacy of nuclear power and determine if it will be viable source to supplement the state’s energy needs, a Geelong-based state MP says.

As the state government powers ahead towards its renewable energy target of 40 per cent by 2025 and 50 per cent by 2030, state Liberal MP Beverley McArthur said nuclear energy needed to be investigated.

“We need to look at all forms of energy because, in Victoria especially, we need to increase supply,” Mrs McArthur said.

“We have an unreliable source of energy. We cut 25 per cent of our base load power by closing down Hazelwood Power Station.

“We have to replace base load power, so we have to look at every possible form of energy.”

A prohibition on nuclear energy in Victoria has existed since 1983.

Mrs McArthur said: “We should have an opened mind to it … lift the moratorium so the discussions can occur and business will decide if it’s a viable alternative. Not only is it safe now but it’s emission free.”

Data from International Energy Agency shows that in France in 2019 more than 399,000 gigawatt hours, out of the country’s total energy production of 570,000gwh, was produced from nuclear energy.

Mrs McArthur’s position comes as state parliament's economy and infrastructure committee, which completed an inquiry into nuclear prohibition, were divided on lifting the state’s moratorium on nuclear energy.

Western Victoria Liberal MP Bev McArthur. Picture: Glenn Ferguson

MP Cesar Melhem. Picture: David Geraghty / The Australian.

Economy and infrastructure committee chair and Labor MP Cesar Melhem said the inquiry would provide useful information to future policymakers.

“Figures produced by the CSIRO would indicate that traditional nuclear energy generation is

currently expensive and unlikely to be taken up in Australia,” Mr Melhem wrote in the committee’s November report.

“Issues of waste management, public and environmental safety, potential health impacts and a range of other issues would need to be carefully considered before nuclear power became a

reality in Australia.”

Mrs McArthur said Victoria’s energy challenges demand serious consideration of all energy options in an agnostic, science-led approach.

“To do otherwise will condemn Victorians to a third-world energy supply.

“The prohibition must be lifted to allow this state to power itself – affordably, reliably and cleanly into the future,”

“No country has successfully decarbonised without utilising nuclear energy.”

A nuclear power plant at Chooz in northern France. Picture: Francois Lo Presti / AFP

Mrs McArthur said “scaremongering” about nuclear energy focused on isolated nuclear disasters such as Chernobyl and Fukushima.

“Chernobyl was caused by human error in an antiquated reactor constructed in the 1950s and run by the Soviet Union Communists.

“You couldn’t imagine a more different scenario in Victoria with modern technology and standards.”

“The Fukushima meltdown is another favourite of the scaremongers who choose to ignore that the plant was built in the 1960s with design flaws, constructed on a fault line, and victim of one of the worst recorded earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan’s history.”

Follow @cvanestrop

MORE NEWS

HIGHTON AGED CARE COVID PROBE LAUNCHED

GEELONG NIGHTCLUB ASSAULT LINKED TO BABY’S DEATH

WOMAN SMASHED NEIGHBOUR’S WINDOW IN TV DISPUTE

Originally published as Business should be allowed to determine if nuclear power can feed into state’s energy mix, MP Beverley McArthur says