Toowoomba nuclear: Deputy mayor Rebecca Vonhoff comments on Tarong proposal by Coalition, new environment group calls plan ‘risky’

One of Toowoomba’s most powerful elected officials has weighed on in a proposal for a nuclear reactor within a few kilometres of the region’s boundary.

Toowoomba deputy mayor Rebecca Vonhoff has weighed in on the prospect of a nuclear reactor being built near the region, as concerns were again raised around water security given the technology’s thirst.

Ms Vonhoff, one of the city’s most powerful elected officials and a major water security advocate, said she and other councillors had been briefed by officers on a future federal Coalition government’s proposal to build a nuclear plant at Tarong.

Toowoomba deputy mayor Rebecca Vonhoff.

The site, just 11km from the Toowoomba region town of Yarraman, is one of seven earmarked by Opposition leader Peter Dutton for nuclear reactors across Australia.

Ms Vonhoff, a member of the LNP, said if any plants were to be built in or near the region, she would expect the council to be consulted by upper levels of government.

“We’ve been briefed that there are no nuclear plants planned for the Toowoomba region,” she said.

“In the event that there was a nuclear plant the Toowoomba region we would be a stakeholder (and we) would be consulted by the federal and state governments.

“It would depend on a whole host of factors about where it was (located) and the impact to the community.

“The community hasn’t had conversations with me about that.”

It comes as the Darling Downs Environment Council became the latest group to question the Coalition’s proposal, following a report by the Queensland government that outlined a number of challenges to delivering the state’s two planned nuclear sites.

Premier Steven Miles’ department tabled the “rapid analysis” research document at parliament estimates on July 23, which also suggested farmers as far away as Highfields, Meringandan and Dalby could be impacted by a nuclear power station just north of the Toowoomba region.

Along with highlighting legislative challenges, costs of building and decommissioning plants and exploring cost comparisons against other energy sources, the department argued more than 5400 people would need to prepare to evacuate from around Tarong if exclusion zones were based on a nuclear country like Finland.

Darling Downs Environmental Council co-ordinator Ahri Tallon. Picture: Christine Schindler

DDEC co-ordinator Ahri Tallon said nuclear power’s constant need for water could pose a problem for a region prone to drought.

“The Darling Downs Environment Council welcomes the research and from the premier’s department exploring the precarious reality that a nuclear energy industry in our community proposes,” he said.

“It is disappointing that the federal Coalition has not been more forthcoming with sharing their perspective on how the extensive risks and issues would be dealt with.

“The analysis affirms what was suspected in that nuclear energy is a water hungry industry that would could easily create risks and complications to our water supply systems needed by the community and agriculture during drought periods.

“In addition, during the Fukushima disaster, over 1.3 million cubic metres of seawater were required to cool the reactors after backup generators were flooded.”

Mr Tallon’s comments follow a response from the Queensland Conservation Council this week, which argued a Tarong nuclear site posed an unacceptable risk to prime farmland.

QCC director Dave Copeman said the 2400 farms within an 80km radius of Tarong (based on US zoning) would also need to develop plans for their crops and livestock in the event of an accident or meltdown.

“In that 80km zone, the requirement is farmers need to undertake preventive measures, delay and withhold shipments – all of these things need to be built within the planning process,” he said.