Thursday 6 July 2006
ACF

The Australian Conservation Foundation has urged the Prime Minister to back up his promise today that he will not "have this country used as some kind of repository for other peoples' nuclear problems" with unambiguous instructions to his nuclear taskforce.

"If the Prime Minister is fair dinkum about not making Australia the world's nuclear waste dump, then he should instruct his inquiry panel not to examine the economic viability of importing high level radioactive waste from overseas," said Leanne Minshull, Nuclear Free Campaigner for the Australian Conservation Foundation.

"The PM says he would not allow nuclear waste from overseas, but the inquiry will still investigate the viability of the idea.

"On the other hand, the inquiry will look at the whether Australia should build nuclear reactors, but not where the highly toxic, long-lasting radioactive waste - an inevitable by-product of every nuclear reactor - would be kept."

Meanwhile, Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has visited the Torness nuclear reactor in the Scottish town of Dunbar on the same day news broke in the British press that the reactor core had cracks in its graphite bricks and experts called for the Government to close it down.

"This is another reminder about the secretive nature of this dirty industry. The Minister should reveal immediately what he found out about the extent of the damage at the Torness reactor," Ms Minshull said.

"The truth is Australia doesn't need to flirt with this dangerous industry. We have an abundance of clean, safe, credible energy solutions. Renewables and energy efficiency can meet our power needs and deliver cuts in greenhouse pollution."