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)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â constructing nuclear power stations is hugely expensive, costing billions of dollars, and often far exceeding the original estimate,
(ii)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â estimates indicate a typical nuclear reactor uses millions of litres of water per day,
(iii)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â nuclear power is up to three times the cost of renewable energy sources backed by storage,
(iv)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 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)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 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.