WA bans nuclear plants



Liza Kappelle
June 21, 2007 06:40am
THE State Government has introduced a bill that will trigger a state referendum should the commonwealth try and force a nuclear power plant on WA.
Prime Minister John Howard says a nuclear industry in Australia is the only viable, non-fossil fuel alternative to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
But WA Energy Minister Francis Logan said the state's energy requirements do not lie with nuclear power when WA has wind and emerging low emission technologies such as clean coal and geothermal power.
He said WA Labor's long-held opposition to a nuclear industry was under threat from Mr Howard, prompting the need for the anti-nuclear power plant legislation introduced to state parliament yesterday.
"We have already passed legislation to ban the storage and transport of nuclear waste,'' Mr Logan said.
"To date it has not been necessary to ban nuclear power, but a new threat has emerged.
"The Howard government in its attempt to play catch up in the climate change debate is using nuclear power as its solution to global warming.
"This could mean action by the commonwealth government to impose nuclear power in WA.''
The new legislation would include a referendum trigger if the commonwealth tried to override the new state laws, he said.
The laws will prohibit the construction or operation of a nuclear facility in WA with such attempts to be met by a $500,000 fine.
They will also prohibit the transportation of "certain material'' to a nuclear facility site and prohibit connecting nuclear generation works to an electricity transmission or distribution system.
The WA Liberals support uranium mining in the state but see no need for nuclear power.
AAP