Today the Senate passed my motion which reaffirms its support for a ban on the development of nuclear power.

Nuclear power is incredibly expensive, water intensive and high risk, with a waste legacy that remains unsolved.

Nuclear power

Senator Hanson-Young, pursuant to notice of motion not objected to as a formal motion, moved general business notice of motion no. 51—That the Senate—

               (a)       notes that:

(i)       constructing nuclear power stations is hugely expensive, costing billions of dollars, and often far exceeding the original estimate,

(ii)       estimates indicate a typical nuclear reactor uses millions of litres of water per day,

(iii)       nuclear power is up to three times the cost of renewable energy sources backed by storage,

(iv)       the Fukushima disaster in 2011 resulted in the evacuation of 160,000 people and, some two years later, 81,000 evacuees remained displaced over concerns of radiological effects,

(v)       the Chernobyl disaster contaminated a radius of 30 km from the reactor explosion, resulting in the forced resettlement of hundreds of thousands of people, and

(vi)       Australian law prohibits the development of nuclear power; and

               (b)       reaffirms its support for section 140A (No approval for certain nuclear installations) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 .

Statement by leave : The Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries (Senator Duniam), by leave, made a statement relating to the motion.

Question put and passed.