1. CATASTROPHIC EVENTS

In addition to the risk of accidents, nuclear power reactors are vulnerable to disasters from sabotage, terrorism, or the use of conventional forces to attack nuclear facilities during war.

More info:
* Chapter 5 in 'Nuclear Power: No Solution to Climate Change',
<www.foe.org.au/campaigns/anti-nuclear/issues>.
* EnergyScience Briefing Paper #10: <www.energyscience.org.au>.

2. NUCLEAR WASTE

The 2006 government-commissioned Switkowski report envisages the construction of 25 power reactors, which would produce up to 45,000 tonnes of high-level nuclear waste. There is not a single permanent repository for spent fuel or high-level nuclear waste anywhere in the world.

More info: EnergyScience Briefing Paper #8: <www.energyscience.org.au>.

3. NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Nuclear power is the one and only energy source with a direct and repeatedly-demonstrated connection to the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. As former Prime Minister Paul Keating said last year, any country with a nuclear power program "ipso facto ends up with a nuclear weapons capability".

More info: EnergyScience Briefing Papers #9,11 and 17: <www.energyscience.org.au>.

4. REDUCED PROPERTY PRICES. COMPULSORY LAND ACQUISITION. NO INSURANCE.

A nuclear power plant would reduce local property values. The government may use compulsory land acquisition powers to seize land for reactors - just as it has previously seized land for a nuclear waste dump. Insurance companies do not insure against the risk of nuclear accidents.

5. COST

Too cheap to meter, or too expensive to matter? The nuclear power industry survives only because of huge taxpayer subsidies.

More info: EnergyScience Briefing Paper #1: <www.energyscience.org.au>.

6. DEMOCRACTIC RIGHTS

The federal government has sought legal advice on its powers to override state laws banning nuclear power plants. The government already has a track record of imposing unwanted nuclear facilities on states/territories and communities. For example, the federal government ignored Northern Territory legislation which prohibits the imposition of a nuclear waste dump. Instead, the government rail-roaded legislation through federal parliament in December 2005 to by-pass normal decision-making processes and to undermine environmental, public safety and Aboriginal heritage protections. Further draconian legislation was rail-roaded through the parliament in late 2006. The 2006 Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Legislation Amendment Act states that a nuclear dump site nomination is legally valid even without consultation with and consent from Traditional Owners. It also removes the right to appeal under the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 and it removals rights to "procedural fairness".

7. WATER

Nuclear power is the most water-intensive of all the energy sources. Reactors typically consume 35-65 million litres of water per day.

More info: Impacts of Nuclear Power & Uranium Mining on Water Resources,
<www.foe.org.au/campaigns/anti-nuclear/issues>.

8. TOO SLOW

It would probably take 15 years or more to develop nuclear power in Australia. Clean energy solutions can be deployed immediately.

9. GREENHOUSE GASES

Nuclear power emits three times more greenhouse gases than wind power according to the 2006 Switkowski report. Nuclear power is also far more greenhouse intensive than energy efficiency measures.

More info: EnergyScience Briefing Papers #2 and 3: <www.energyscience.org.au>.

10. UNNECESSARY

We don't need nuclear power. A clean energy future is viable and affordable. Several renewable energy sources - such as bioenergy, geothermanl hot rocks, solar thermal electricity with storage, and sometimes hydroelecticity - can provide reliable baseload electricity.

More info:
* Clean Energy Future Group - national & state studies: <wwf.org.au/ourwork/climatechange/cleanenergyfuture>.
* Clean Energy literature references: <www.foe.org.au/campaigns/anti-nuclear/issues>.
* EnergyScience Briefing Papers #5 and 16: <www.energyscience.org.au>.