Readers react to Qld government report about Coalition’s nuclear power impacts around Tarong, Callide proposals

Debate has erupted over nuclear power in regional Queensland following a state government report exploring its impacts on immediate residents and farmers. HAVE YOUR SAY HERE

Debate has erupted over nuclear power in regional Queensland, as residents reacted to a new state government report that suggested planned reactors could theoretically impact thousands of people in worst-case scenarios.

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

It comes four weeks after the federal Coalition announced its ambitious and largely uncosted plan for seven reactors across Australia - the first of which the LNP estimates to open by 2037 and includes one at the current Tarong coal-fired plant 10km from Yarraman.

The immediate population in towns like Yarraman, Nanango, Maidenwell and Tarameo is roughly 5400, all of which the report argued would need to be ready to evacuate in the event of an accident at Tarong based on exclusion zones from Finland.

In another impact that has raised alarm bells with the Queensland Conservation Council, the document provided research suggesting a hypothetical Tarong plant would pose multiple problems for the region’s water supply as the effects of climate change worsened.

WHAT YOU SAID

‘Scare campaign’ over nuclear

Campbell

The hypotheticals in the scare campaign are very, very light on probability. If we take the aggregation of over ten thousand operational years of over 430 nuclear reactors around the world, there have been two situations that initiated evacuations. And has been shown on analysis of the actual environmental effects in the evacuated zones, the risks were significantly overstated.

Carpe Diem

Another scare article that misses so many things. Like that the solar and wind “farms” permanently destroy perfectly good land.

And making statements that nuclear is largely uncosted, it’s pretty easy to work out costings just by researching the cost of existing plants overseas, and these would all be at existing coal power stations, so no need for 28,000kms of poles and wires (just that costing $1.3 trillion) to connect the ruinables.

Ron Jeremy

And the scare campaign begins. As someone who lives within the exclusion area, I have no concerns whatsoever.

Coalition nuclear plan as ‘fantasy’

Glenn

Don’t panic it will never happen, just a smoke screen and code for Liberals non acceptance of climate change. Why would a liberal government build nuclear reactors to prevent something they don’t believe is real? Wait around for the next clanger Dutton comes up with, but this nuclear one is going take some topping.

Mick

As time goes by we see reason after reason why Dutton’s nuclear fantasy will never see the light of day.

Nuclear plants require a lot of water and placing one that would try and operate in an area that is regularly under drought conditions like Tarong is just plain nuts and shows barely any research was done by Dutton before announcing his nuclear fiasco.

David

Massive waste of time and money even discussing it.

Risk of nuclear meltdown overstated

DarylS

As a retired Toowoomba resident (with both scientific and economic experience and qualifications) I don’t worry about a nuclear accident. I do worry about having at least a decade between the closure of the last coal station, and the commissioning of the first nuclear station, when funding has been cut to renewables.

Robert M.

Doubt I’m alone in preferring an obligation to evacuate my home if necessary, rather than swelter intermittently in daylight and darkness thanks to Labor’s respect for their obligations.

Coastguy

Let’s stop the scaremongering. The world is going to go nuclear. We need a cheap energy source.

Stig of the dump

So a nuclear power station “might” have a catastrophic meltdown, but probably never will, whereas at least some of the thousands of existing and proposed wind turbines WILL impact local or migrating fauna for as long as they are in service.

Originally published as Readers react to Qld government report about Coalition’s nuclear power impacts around Tarong, Callide proposals