November 27, 2024
Former Commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW Greg Mullins has warned that firefighters are not trained or equipped to deal with nuclear emergencies that could arise from nuclear reactors or the transportation and storage of radioactive waste.
Mr Mullins was commenting on a submission by Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA) to the House Select Committee on Nuclear Energy.
ELCA consist of 38 former senior Australian fire and emergency service leaders who say climate change is driving increasingly catastrophic extreme weather events which are putting lives, properties and livelihoods at greater risk and overwhelming emergency services.
“Our firefighters are on the frontlines of escalating climate fuelled disasters, like bushfires and floods, fuelled by climate pollution,” Mr Mullins said.
“They’re not trained or equipped to deal with nuclear emergencies that could arise from nuclear reactors or the transportation and storage of radioactive waste.”
The ELCA submission says nuclear reactor emergency planning and management has not been addressed by proponents of nuclear energy and emphasises that Australian emergency services lack the experience and resources to handle potential nuclear emergencies.
“Australian emergency services would have to be built up from scratch to respond to nuclear disasters, with no costings or plans in place to achieve this,” Mr Mullins said.
“There are no fully staffed urban fire service stations near the proposed sites for nuclear reactors, and it’s neither feasible nor reasonable to expect volunteer bushfire fighters to handle such high-risk emergencies.
“I oversaw the deployment of Australian firefighters to assist in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that led to the Fukushima disaster, where the chaos and devastation caused by nuclear failures was stark.
“First responders, many of them civilian firefighters, were thrown into situations they weren’t trained for. That’s not a risk we should take in Australia, no matter how remote.
“There are no safety or environmental frameworks in place to manage the risks of nuclear reactors or to safely transport and store radioactive waste in Australia.
“Placing nuclear reactors in disaster-prone areas like Latrobe, Lithgow, Singleton and the South Burnett would add to the burden emergency services already face responding to worsening bushfires, floods, and storms.”
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