Environment Victoria slams federal Coalition’s nuclear power plan

Environment Victoria has slammed the federal Coalition’s nuclear power plan including a proposal to build a nuclear reactor near Traralgon in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.

Quotes from Environment Victoria’s CEO Jono La Nauze:

“Peter Dutton is chasing a unicorn – nuclear power that doesn’t cost the earth – and it would be funny if it weren’t so incredibly reckless

“The only effect this can have is to delay the urgent and necessary transition to renewable power

“Victorians are already experiencing the impacts of a more volatile climate, with increased flooding and extreme weather events

“To address the ever-mounting cost of climate impacts we need to cut emissions now, not wait decades

“Compared to renewables, nuclear power would take decades longer, cost billions more and leave Australians with a toxic radioactive waste legacy for thousands of generations

“Peter Dutton is proposing to use precious public funds to create a dirty, dangerous legacy for future generations. It’s obscene.

“Australia is blessed with some of the best renewable energy resources in the world, enough to power our lives and a thriving economy, we simply need to get on with the job of harnessing them.

Quotes from Environment Victoria’s Latrobe Valley Community Organiser Hayley Sestokas:

“Here in Gippsland we have 25 large renewable energy projects worth over $54 billion in the pipeline – the clean energy transition is already well underway here, delivering the kind of solutions we need now, not decades away.

“This nuclear brain fart from the coalition is not a credible proposal by any stretch of the imagination.

“We are only now starting the massive challenge of cleaning up the toxic legacy left by over a century of the coal industry. Our community should not be forced into hosting another dangerous, toxic polluter in its place

“The legacy of coal mining also creates additional risks for any nuclear facility. The removal of groundwater and millions of tonnes of coal has created significant subsidence problems, leaving us to question the wisdom of siting such a dangerous industry near an unstable landform.