November 7, 2024
The Federal Government’s Select Committee on Nuclear Energy will be sitting in Nanango next week to collect submissions on the future of nuclear power generation in Australia.
The hearing will be held at the Nanango RSL Club from 8:30am on Thursday, November 14, and is open to the public to attend.
However, although anyone can attend the hearing, only those invited to give evidence will be able to speak.
southburnett.com.au understands that South Burnett Mayor Kathy Duff and several councillors are on the witness list.
Anti-renewables campaigner Jim Willmott also announced on social media this week (at right) that he will be a witness.
The House Select Committee on Nuclear Energy was established by a resolution that passed the House of Representatives on October 10 (see below).
The committee is required to present its final report by April 30, 2025.
As well as conducting hearings, the Select Committee is also accepting written submissions but these close on November 15, ie. the day after the Nanango event.
[UPDATED: The original report said the meeting started at 9:00am]
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The role of the House Select Committee on Nuclear Energy is to inquire into and report on the consideration of nuclear power generation, including deployment of small modular reactors, in Australia, including:
- Deployment timeframes;
- Fuel supply, and transport of fuel;
- Uranium enrichment capability;
- Waste management, transport and storage;
- Water use and impacts on other water uses;
- Relevant energy infrastructure capability, including brownfield sites and transmission lines;
- Federal, State, Territory and local government legal and policy frameworks;
- Risk management for natural disasters or any other safety concerns;
- Potential share of total energy system mix;
- Necessary land acquisition;
- Costs of deploying, operating and maintaining nuclear power stations;
- The impact of the deployment, operation and maintenance of nuclear power stations on electricity affordability; and
- Any other relevant matter.
- External link: Select Committee On Nuclear Energy
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With the named speakers having no experience in making electricity from any form, running power plants, not living near the proposed nuclear sites or understanding how the current energy system works, it’s hard to understand how their contribution could be viewed as anything more than content for a new series of “Yes, Minister”.
Their views are mainly their own or another politician’s, not everyone in the region.
Build them near the sea and the big load areas if a political party wants them, not take our precious water resources and risk our livelihoods.
No one has been elected yet with respect to a mandate to build a nuclear plant at Tarong. I can’t see how Mr Willmott can say he represents the region at the committee. I’ve not heard of him nor the Libertarian Party.
The SBRC councillors were elected before Mr Dutton’s policy announcement. The LNP at State level said it was not their policy.
It’s been promulgated that people are in favour of nuclear without any evidence. The previous comment makes the point that nuclear power plants are built, in Britain, on the coast to exploit copious cooling water.
Fully agree with “Keeping up Appearances”, especially the last paragraph. I still wonder if any of the supporters of nuclear would like to have a plant operating near their residence.
David Littleproud and his supporters keep on comparing nuclear reactors generating electricity to the small reactor at Lucas Heights. This is just plain wrong. I don’t know if Mr Littleproud honestly believes this propaganda but if he does, he’s done absolutely no research into the subject and is just saying whatever he’s being told to say.
When will Mr Dutton and Mr Littleproud tell us how much these nuclear plants are going to cost, where they plan to store the waste and when they expect them to start generating electricity?
To those people questioning the cost of nuclear power generation, maintenance and distribution, when will Albanese come clean on the total cost of renewable power generation, maintenance and generation?
“When will Albanese come clean on the total cost of renewable power generation, maintenance and generation?”
The total cost of renewables? We already know the cost as they are either already built, in the process of being built or in the later stages of planning. We have NO IDEA what the nuclear proposal will cost or even when it will start.
The total cost of maintenance and generation? Nuclear reactors and their associated power generation plants also require maintenance, unless you want a Chernobyl-type incident to occur! By the way, coal power stations are also not cheap to maintain. Have you seen how much is in every Queensland Budget for shutdowns at Tarong?
The really important question is nuclear waste and nuclear safety. I would happily live next to a solar farm, wind farm or battery. I don’t want to be within 100km of a nuclear power generation plant. One accident could create a 30km zone around Tarong where no one could live. And where do they plan to stick that waste that can kill for thousands of years?
Pro-nuclear pollies just say “don’t worry, it’s safe”. Sorry, I don’t believe them and no amount of chest-thumping about doing it the Australian-way will make one jot of difference.
Not one farmer in the South Burnett should support nuclear energy as any water they may have hoped to get through irrigation studies will just dry up as a nuked Tarong would require every drop in our dams and then some.
I am strongly in favour of converting Tarong Power Station to nuclear. The proposed closure of Tarong in 2032 will have significant effect on our town and Queensland’s power security.
Nuclear power stations last 80 to 100 years whereas the renewables have to be replaced after 25 years. The cost of storage of renewable power has not been taken into account when calculating which option is the cheapest.
The disruption caused by the thousands of kilometres of new transmission lines will have a major effect on rural, agricultural and forestry lands. Tarong Nuclear facility could easily connect to existing grid.
A couple of points. Are there any 80 or 100-year-old nuclear power stations now? If not, how do we really know how long they will last? Just because some MP says this doesn’t mean it’s true. He doesn’t mention that wind turbines and solar panels can just be replaced on site, using the same infrastructure, and keep on humming.
But we do know how long high level radioactive waste produced by nuclear reactors generating electricity lasts. It is on a geological time scale of thousands and thousands of years. I haven’t seen one proposal put forward yet by the LNP about where this dangerous waste, which could be stolen and turned into a dirty bomb, will be safely and securely stored. It’s a problem all over the world, a problem Australia doesn’t need!
The “existing grid” already consists of thousands of kilometres of transmission lines. Why didn’t anyone protest about them being erected in the past? Maybe it was because they weren’t being told back then by coal-powered politicians that powerlines were a problem and instead saw them as a sign of “progress”.
Haven’t you noticed that the solar farms, wind farms and batteries in the South Burnett actually have already been constructed fairly close to the existing connectors?
No one doubts that the closure of Tarong is going to be bad thing when the high-paid jobs at the mine disappear. How many jobs will be created at a nuclear power plant and how many South Burnett people will have the skills to work there?
Then there is the water issue. Nuclear power generation requires a lot of it. How does that mix well with farms? And house prices. I don’t want to live beside nuclear waste storage.
The loudest voices in this debate who want nuclear are not impartial. They want to keep coal mining going for as long as possible, especially coal miners, mining unions and their MP mates. Some may also be gambling on making a squillion on the shares they hold in speculative mining companies that are exploring to open new uranium mines.
This is all such short-term thinking and is wasting time while the climate is heating up.