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Reject nuclear

While WA communities face rising energy costs and accelerating climate impacts, nuclear is a dangerous distraction from the real solutions already within our reach.

Nuclear is:

  • Slow. It takes decades to plan, approve, and build nuclear reactors, and the global experience has been one dominated by delays and cost blow outs. Newer reactors like small modular reactors (SMRs) are not commercially available and may never be. In the meantime, billions of tonnes of climate pollution will be released, and we’ll lose critical years in the race to cut emissions. 
  • Expensive. Nuclear power costs 3 to 4 times more than solar and wind. Expert Analysis consistently shows that nuclear is the most expensive form of energy, costing households $665 more on average each year, while renewables are much cheaper, saving households $2,250 on average each year if they have solar and a battery
  • Dangerous. From radioactive waste to the risk of catastrophic accidents or smaller leaks and spills, nuclear comes with hazards that last generations.
  • Thirsty. Nuclear power is the most water intensive form of energy requiring between 35 – 65 million litres a day.  

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FAQs

Yes. Renewable energy is the most affordable way to power our homes and industries. The CSIRO Gen Cost report concluded that solar and wind are the lowest cost new build energy options while nuclear costs more than any other energy option.

The Climate Council of Australia found nuclear would cost twice us much as renewables.

Absolutely. Nuclear will take too long to deliver the energy we need. To go nuclear would involve diverting funds from renewable energy and will lead to more fossil fuels for longer. We can power Australia with a mix of renewable energy and storage faster and cheaper and displacing more coal and gas than nuclear. To do this we need investment from government in the infrastructure and clear signals from the government about the commitment to decarbonise to create the investor certainty needed to deliver the technology we need.

There is no operating nuclear waste facility, trial facilities in the US have had accidents and incidents, there are old cases of waste being dumped in the ocean and mines. Most nuclear waste globally is stored at reactors because there are no waste facilities. The global standard for management of this waste is to completely isolate it from the biosphere – which requires deep geological repositories, this is expensive – the one attempt to do this in Finland has cost around 5 billion Euros and taken about 30 years.

There are emissions along the entire lifecycle from mining uranium, transport, processing and manufacturing fuel rods, construction, decommissioning and the ongoing management of nuclear waste.