Global nuclear club meets in Sydney

The Prime Minister says he wants to develop a nuclear industry but what he isn't saying is that Australia is being lined up to become the world's nuclear waste dump

The key faces of the world's exclusive nuclear club appeared in Sydney yesterday as the Federal Government rolled out a red carpet to welcome the rogues gallery to the 15th Pacific Basin Nuclear Conference at the Hilton Hotel.
 
The global nuclear club are meeting at a time when the Prime Minister has endorsed nuclear energy in Australia before a final report from the inquiry he set up is released and before any safe, long term storage solution is found for nuclear waste.

"After 50 years of a global nuclear industry, there is still no safe, long term solution to nuclear waste," The Wilderness Society's Campaigns Director Alec Marr said.
 
"The Prime Minister says he wants to develop a nuclear industry but what he isn't saying is that Australia is being lined up to become the world's nuclear waste dump.

"This is happening in Australia at a time when the United States is facing a nuclear waste crisis, with the failure of its proposed national high-level nuclear waste dump, at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, to open due to environmental and safety concerns," Mr Marr said.
 
The person responsible for over seeing the Yucca Mountain proposal, Samuel Bodman, Secretary of the US Department of Energy, is also attending the conference in Sydney.
 
"The State of Nevada is successfully blocking the project due to environmental problems associated with the project. So far US$9 billion has been spent on a failed waste dump", Mr Marr said.

Alec Marr outside the conference

Utilities in the US are successfully suing the US EPA for costs associated with interim storage of the nuclear waste they thought they wouldn't have to manage. Some industry analysts believe the lawsuits could cost up to US$50 billion. The US EPA concedes it will pay out at least US$7 billion.
 
"Nuclear is very expensive and only ever survives due to heavy government subsidies. We need long lasting and economically viable solutions to climate change - solutions that are not going to leave a toxic nuclear legacy for 250,000 years," Mr Marr said.

More

Nuclear Campaign FAQ

How The Wilderness Society is tackling global warming

Go to Nuclear Resource Special Site