Anti-nuclear movement in Australia

Australia has no nuclear power stations and the current Rudd Labor government is opposed to nuclear power for Australia. However, Australia does have a small research reactor (OPAL) in Sydney, and it does export uranium. Australia has 40% of the world's known uranium deposits and sells uranium only to members of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Uranium mining and export and nuclear issues have often been the subject of public debate, and the anti-nuclear movement in Australia has a long history. Its origins date back to the 1972–73 debate over French nuclear testing in the Pacific, which mobilised several groups, and the 1976–77 debate about uranium mining in Australia.

History

Ranger Uranium Mine in Kakadu National Park

Aerial view of the Ranger 3 site located within Kakadu National Park.

The Australian anti-nuclear movement has several roots. The 1972–73 debate over French nuclear testing in the Pacific mobilised several groups, including some trade unions. In 1972 the International Court of Justice in a case launched by Australia and New Zealand, ordered that the French cease atmospheric nuclear testing at Mururoa atoll. In 1974 and 1975 this concern came to focus on uranium mining in Australia and several Friends of the Earth groups were formed. The Australian Conservation Foundation also began voicing concern about uranium mining and supporting the activities of the grass-roots organisations. The Australian anti-nuclear movement also acquired initial impetus from various individuals who publicly voiced concern about the nuclear option, such as nuclear scientists Richard Temple and Rob Robotham, and poets Dorothy Green and Judith Wright.

The years 1976 and 1977 saw uranium mining become a major political issue because the Ranger Inquiry (Fox) report which opened up a public debate about uranium mining. Several groups were set up, variously named Movement Against Uranium Mining and Campaign Against Nuclear Energy (or Power), specifically to focus on nuclear and uranium issues. In mid-1977 both the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Australian Council of Trade Unions expressed opposition to uranium mining. Widespread public debate continued after the government's announcement of uranium mining in August 1977.

The years of the Hawke-Keating ALP governments (1983-1996) were characterised by an "uneasy standoff in the uranium debate". The ALP acknowledged community feeling against uranium mining but was reluctant to move against the industry. The resulting ALP policy allowed for mining at existing sites but refused to approve new ones. Mines at Coronation Hill and Jabiluka were blocked.

As uranium prices began rising from about 2003, proponents of nuclear power advocated it as a solution to global warming and the Australian government began taking an interest. In November 2006, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry and Resources released a pro-nuclear report into Australia's uranium. In late 2006 and early 2007, then Prime Minister John Howard made widely reported statements in favour of nuclear power, on environmental grounds. However, the Rudd Labor government was elected in November 2007 and is opposed to nuclear power for Australia.

Issues

The case against nuclear power and uranium mining in Australia has been concerned mainly with the environmental, political, economic, social and cultural impacts of nuclear energy, with the shortcomings of nuclear power as an energy source, and with presenting a sustainable energy strategy. The most prominent adverse impact of nuclear power is seen to be its potential contribution towards proliferation of nuclear weapons. For example, the 1976 Ranger Inquiry report stated unequivocally "The nuclear power industry is unintentionally contributing to an increased risk of nuclear war. This is the most serious hazard associated with the industry".

From the perspective of the anti-nuclear movement, most of the problems with nuclear power today are much the same as in the 1970s. Nuclear reactor accidents remain a possibility and no convincing solution to the problem of long-lived radioactive waste has been proposed. Nuclear weapons proliferation continues to occur, notably in Pakistan and North Korea, building on facilities and expertise from civilian nuclear operations. The alternatives to nuclear power, efficient energy use and renewable energy (especially wind power), have been further developed and commercialised.

Active groups

• Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia
• Australian Conservation Foundation
• Australian Nuclear Free Alliance
• Cycle Against the Nuclear Cycle
• EnergyScience
• Friends of the Earth
• Greenpeace Australia Pacific
• Nuclear Free Australia
• Peace Organisation of Australia
• People for a Nuclear-Free Australia
• The Sustainable Energy and Anti-Uranium Service Inc.
• The Wilderness Society

Individuals

There are several prominent Australians who have publicly expressed anti-nuclear views in recent years:

Kevin Buzzacott Helen Caldicott Ian Cohen Mark Diesendorf Peter Garrett Jim Green (anti-nuclear campaigner) Jacqui Katona

Ian Lowe Scott Ludlam Yvonne Margarula Dee Margetts Brian Martin (professor) Kerry Nettle Jo Vallentine

Quotes

• Nuclear power in particular is rejected because of its substantial risks (proliferation of nuclear weapons, terrorism, waste management and reactor failures) and economic costs, and because within several decades it will become a significant emitter of CO2, mainly from the fossil fuels used in mining and milling low-grade uranium ore. Based on existing technologies, nuclear power is neither a long-term nor a short-term solution to global warming. -- Dr Mark Diesendorf, 2007.

• Promoting nuclear power as the solution to climate change is like advocating smoking as a cure for obesity. That is, taking up the nuclear option will make it much more difficult to move to the sort of sustainable, ecologically healthy future that should be our goal. -- Professor Ian Lowe, 2007.

• There are significant constraints on the growth of nuclear power, such as its high capital cost and, in many countries, lack of public acceptability. As a method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear power is further limited because it is used almost exclusively for electricity generation, which is responsible for less than one third of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Because of these problems, the potential for nuclear power to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by replacing fossil fuels is limited. Few predict a doubling of nuclear power output by 2050, but even if it did eventuate it would still only reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 5% – less than one tenth of the reductions required to stabilise atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. -- Dr Jim Green, 2005.

See also

• Australian Atomic Energy Commission
• Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
• British nuclear tests at Maralinga
• Campaign Against Nuclear Energy
• Clean Energy Future Group
• Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy
• High Flux Australian Reactor
• Jervis Bay Nuclear Power Plant
• List of anti-nuclear groups
• New Zealand's nuclear-free zone
• Reaction Time (book)
• Renewable energy commercialisation in Australia
• Uranium mining controversy in Kakadu National Park
• List of Australian Inquiries into Uranium Mining
• Category:Anti-nuclear movement by country

External links

• Australian Map Of Nuclear Sites
• Nuclear Knights
• Strategy against nuclear power
• Anti-nuclear campaigners say Muckaty will be dumped
• Backs to the Blast, an Australian Nuclear Story
• Forum sparks new anti-nuclear group
• Stop Uranium Mining! Australia's Decade of Protest 1975-1985
• French, US bid for nuclear plants
• Nuclear Power and the Western Australia Electricity Grid