From an email from Voices of the Valley 5/7/24. Please contact Darren Chester or his office as listed at the bottom of this story.
As you know, the Coalition has proposed a nuclear power station on the site of the coal-fired power station at Loy Yang. Voices of the Valley supports the transition to renewable energy and is opposed to building a nuclear power station in the Latrobe Valley. You are receiving this letter because you responded to our nuclear survey or have recently signed a petition rejecting nuclear power.
Darren Chester, the National Party Member for Gippsland, has asked what the community, the voters in his electorate, think about this proposal. If you live in the Gippsland electorate, please send a short letter or email to Darren Chester to tell him what you think.
- Both Victorian and Federal governments have held enquiries into nuclear energy, and both have concluded that Australia should not build nuclear power stations. Victoria’s most recent inquiry was tabled in Parliament in 2020 and, at the Federal level, the Nuclear Activities (Prohibitions) Act of 1983 is still in force. More recently, Australian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Act of 1998/2024 (https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A00383/latest/text) and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act of 1999 /2023 (https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A00485/latest/text) also prohibit nuclear power in all states and territories of Australia.
- Even if there were changes to legislation to make nuclear power possible, it would take many years and an enormous investment to build a nuclear power station, which would make nuclear power prohibitively expensive. The CSIRO and AEMO calculated costs for various forms of energy generation and the 2023-24 report notes,
Using the standard formula for levelised costs plus the additional calculations specific to additional storage and transmission needs, wind and solar come in at an average of $112 per megawatt hour in 2023, decreasing to $82 per megawatt hour in 2030.
In contrast, based on the available updated cost data, SMRs come in at an average $509 per megawatt hour in 2023, decreasing to $282 in 2030. This projection shows nuclear SMR capital costs are almost half from today, but still well above the projected costs for wind and solar. (https://www.csiro.au/en/news/All/Articles/2023/December/Nuclear-explainer)
The levelized costs do not include storage of nuclear waste or site remediation.
We support the continued transition to renewable energy in the Latrobe Valley, across Gippsland and Australia wide. We have the resources (sun, wind, water for hydroelectricity), the technology and the workforce capable of working in the renewable power industry. We need bipartisan support, not a diversion to nuclear technology where we have no base industry to build on and which would delay necessary action on climate change.
The Latrobe Valley is not a suitable site for a nuclear power station.
- Current power station operators hold licences for years to come and the land they hold will not become available until their rehabilitation responsibilities are completed. Compulsory acquisition should not cancel the rehabilitation requirement.
- There are already concerns about the competing demands for water between agriculture, maintaining environmental water quality downstream of the Latrobe Valley, mine rehabilitation, not to mention uncertainties related to climate change.
- Ground stability is an issue around mine voids. Not only is there some surface instability related to long term disruption of the water table resulting from decades of mining, but there are fault lines that point to the possibility of earthquakes.
- The proposed site is beside a coal mine with a constant risk of fire.
- Provision would have to be made for storage of radioactive nuclear waste. The last few years have made clear the costs associated with coal mining and coal burning; environmental, human health, and rehabilitation costs. How much greater are the costs of nuclear power generation when there is no safe method of disposing of nuclear waste?
- Is there a social licence for nuclear power in the Latrobe Valley? Nuclear power stations elsewhere are considered safe for people to live 16 km away. Loy Yang is less than 15km from the edge of Traralgon. In case of a nuclear accident the danger zone is 80 km. That would affect much of Gippsland and the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. We have not been asked if this is something we see as the future of our area, but there is considerable evidence of acceptance that renewable energy is the way of the future and that we are no longer prepared to accept decisions being imposed on us.
If you oppose nuclear power for the Latrobe Valley and live in the Gippsland electorate, please send a short letter or email to Darren Chester to let him know.
PH. 1300 131 785
email: darren.chester.mp@aph.gov.au
Electorate Office 1 (Principal Office)
Level 1, 89 Raymond Street
Sale, VIC, 3850
Postal address
PO Box 486
Sale, VIC, 3853
Telephone:
Electorate Office 2
126 Franklin Street
Traralgon, VIC, 3844
Postal address
126 Franklin Street
Traralgon, VIC, 3844
Telephone:
Marianne Robinson
VOTV-Secretary
https://www.votv.org.au/
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