Vaile holds off naming nuclear reactor sites


Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile says the future location of nuclear reactors is an issue that would be addressed during a debate on nuclear power in Australia.
The Federal Government has reportedly already drawn up a list of possible sites for nuclear reactors.
The locations were shortlisted nine years ago, and include: Lucas Heights, Goulburn, Holsworthy, and Broken Hill in New South Wales, as well as Adelaide, Darwin, and Perth.
This week the Federal Government is expected to announce an inquiry into nuclear power, as foreshadowed by Prime Minister John Howard on his recent overseas trip.
Mr Vaile has told Channel 10 it is too early to talk about possible locations.
"Well, I'd like to have the debate and get hold of all the scientific facts before I answer that question," he said.
"That's all we should be doing, science has moved on from 30 years ago, technology has moved on."
Federal Science Minister Julie Bishop has told Channel Nine the list of possible sites is irrelevant, because it was drawn up for a research reactor which has since been built.
"Different considerations will apply, a nuclear power station has different requirements than a nuclear research reactor," she said.
"So the research reactor at Lucas Heights and the new reactor, the Opal reactor, have different environmental considerations to a nuclear power station, and so it was a different debate and different considerations applied."
Federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane says he has not seen a Federal Cabinet submission listing 14 possible sites for a nuclear reactor.
Mr Macfarlane has told the ABC's Insiders program that the document is probably outdated.
"It's a list that I'm not familiar with and I'm really just guessing that someone's just dredged it out of a bottom drawer," he said.
"It could be 20 or 30-years-old even, and using it as we saw last week as part of the scare campaign against what is only a debate on what Australia's future energy needs are."
Print Email