Antinuclear campaigners question value of Coalitions nuclear push

An Australian environmental activist group has released new mapping they say shows the risks nuclear energy could pose to some of the biggest population centres across the country, if a catastrophic event were to occur. SEE THE MAP

The Caesium-137 footprint left over from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster mapped over nuclear power proposed for Tarong Queensland.

Mapping prepared by a Victorian climate action group shows just how far the impacts of a nuclear disaster could spread, if there were to be a ‘Fukushima-scale’ incident one of the Coalition’s proposed reactor sites.

The mapping was prepared by Don’t Nuke the Climate, a joint project organised by Friends of the Earth Australia, the Australian Conservation Foundation and Conservation Council of Western Australia.

It took the European Geosciences Union’s peer-reviewed data showing the spread of Caesium 137 isotopes after the Fukushima disaster and imposed it on the seven proposed nuclear reactor sites.

The Caesium-137 footprint left over from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster mapped over nuclear power proposed for Mount Piper, New South Wales.

In 2025, Coalition leader Peter Dutton said his party was interested in replacing seven ageing coal-fired power stations with nuclear reactors.

They are Tarong and Callide in Queensland, Mt Piper and Liddell in New South Wales, Loy Yang in Victoria, Port Augusta in South Australia and Muja in West Australia.

As recently as last week, the Coalition’s energy spokesman and Fairfax MP Ted O’Brien said it was the “cleanest form of industrial energy” during a speech to parliament calling for the moratorium on nuclear power to be dropped.

“No-one on the side of the House, including me, is suggesting that nuclear technology, even small nuclear reactors, is an absolute certainty for this country,” he said.

“What we are suggesting is that this new and emerging technology should at least be assessed, should at least be considered as part of our future energy mix.”

With each site, the organisation prepared a north, south, west and east orientation of the same fallout map.

It did not take into account local weather patterns or topography.

Friends of the Earth Australia’s national nuclear campaigner, Jim Green, said the mapping served as a rough guide of the potential spread of radioactive contamination if there was an incident at one of the Coalition’s sites.

“We are taking some pretty basic points to show that radiation can spread far and wide,” he said.

The Caesium-137 footprint left over from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster mapped over nuclear power proposed for Loy Yang, Victoria.

Caesium-137 has a half-life of about 30 years, meaning it is active in the environment for about 300 years.

It was one of the key contaminants to spill from Fukushima in 2011 and exposure to the material led to increased risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Mr Green said the mapping highlights the risk to the community from nuclear power.

“Currently people cannot insure against a nuclear disaster, and that possesses a set of questions,” he said.

“Would affected people have to sue the state or federal government if they became sick.

“Who pays for compensation and clean up?

The Caesium-137 footprint left over from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster mapped over nuclear power proposed for Muja, Western Australia.

“We know that the Fukushima disaster cost about $1 trillion to clean up, that equates to every Australian paying about $40,000.

The Fukushima disaster was caused by an earthquake and the resulting tsunami that hit the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.

There was an electrical grid failure and the tsunami damaged all of the power plant’s backup energy sources.

The Caesium-137 footprint left over from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster mapped over nuclear power proposed for Port Augusta, South Australia.

The reactors could not be cooled properly leading to the release of contaminants in the environment, poisoning farmland leading to depopulation of the surrounding area.

It is regarded as the worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986.

Mr Green questioned why nuclear fusion was being put up as a possible energy source now.

“We need to get serious about the small risk of catastrophic accidents,” he said.

The Caesium-137 footprint left over from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster mapped over nuclear power proposed for Liddell, NSW

“Scott Morrison said he did not want to promote nuclear power because it would have handed Labor an election win, John Howard brought in the nuclear ban and that ban was maintained by Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments,” he said.

“No one could predict the spectacular cost blow out for Western countries, from $27-46 billion per reactor.

The Caesium-137 footprint left over from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster mapped over nuclear power proposed for Callide, Queensland.

“We can assume that nuclear power in Australia would be a 20 year project.

“Do we want to spend $35+ billion for a reactor that won’t be operating for 20 years, will that be a good fit given we are moving so heavily to renewables?”