Nuclear reactor call for Darwin
Thursday, 25 October, 2007
NT News
And she wants to pay for it by abolishing tax refunds for all but the "poorest of the poor''.
Independent Senate candidate Bernardine Atkinson, who is a secretary for the Territory's Catholic Bishop, said the entire nation would be vying for federal funds once they got over the "nuclear fear''.
"Nuclear power is a critical issue for this election, but because of the fear, politicians have been loathe to put their name next to it,'' she said.
Ms Atkinson, who has worked for Labor and the CLP, said she visited the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in New South Wales to learn of the dangers first hand.
"I held a fuel rod in my hands last week and it was perfectly safe,'' she said.
While most nuclear power stations generate 1000MW of power, Ms Atkinson said smaller ones could be designed andbuilt in Darwin within five years to handle the Territory's need for 250MW.
"In Europe, you've got people living next to nuclear reactors,'' she said.
"People only get worried because they think of nuclear bombs and Chernobyl, but there will never be another Chernobyl.''
Ms Atkinson said the reactor would cost several billion dollars, but said she would ask the nation, with the exception of the poorest people, to give up their income tax refunds to pay for it.
She said the Territory's uranium supplies could be used for the reactor. "It's incredibly valuable to us and we have been selling it overseas for only a fraction of what it is worth.''
Labor candidate Damian Hale last week circulated flyers to Darwin and Palmerston homes suggesting the Howard Government intends to build a nuclear reactor "in your suburb''.
CLP member for Solomon David Tollner said it was "absurd''.