Nationals Senators go nuclear

WODONGA-based Victorian Senator Bridget McKenzie and her fellow four other Nationals Senators want nuclear energy considered as part of a future reliable power source, particularly for regional Australia.

The Nationals Senators this week said nuclear was a low cost, reliable power that presents a safe, proven technology to improve Australia’s energy security.

They said Australia is a global powerhouse when it comes to uranium production, possessing the world’s largest known resources of uranium.

And Senator McKenzie said Australia also has a knowledgeable workforce, and proven nuclear industry run by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.

“Nuclear is a mature, low emissions technology and it is right that we should include it in any plan for Australia’s future,” she said.

“Keeping this technology on the bench does not help Australia, in particular rural Australia which relies on low cost, reliable power.

“Yallourn Power Station’s closure in 2028 is going to cause significant shifts in our National Energy Market and we need to replace like generation with like generation.”

Nuclear power production is currently not permitted in Australia, with the country’s sole nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights (south of Sydney) chiefly used for the production of medical isotopes, not to generate electricity.

Nationals Senator Matt Canavan said Australia “can’t just continue to shut off cheap reliable power and replace it with something that only shows up to work when they want to, we need reliable power generation to back our industries”.

NSW Senator Perin Davey said it is “blindly hypocritical to preach net zero and block a zero-emission technology that can meet base load power requirements consistently and reliably – nuclear".

“It is also hypocritical of us as a nation to be happy to export uranium but not use it ourselves," he said.

“It is either safe for use or not.”

Queensland Senator Susan McDonald said investment in energy infrastructure needs to be driven by technology.

“It is ridiculous to deprive the Australian economy of new energy solutions, that are reliable, affordable and increasingly more efficient, simply because other forms of power-generation are more fashionable,” she said.

Senator Sam McMahon said she’d been an advocate for lifting the ban on nuclear energy for some time.

“When it comes to emissions, reliability and power output, nuclear energy is way out in front and should be considered in the energy mix," she said.

The Nationals Senators said Australia should consider nuclear, including new small modular reactors, as a reliable, low cost, low emissions energy source for Australia’s future.