Friends of the Earth Brisbane
Anti-Nuclear Collective
Member Queensland Nuclear Free Alliance (QNFA)
PO Box 5702 West End Qld 4101
Mobile: 0411 118 737
Media Release November 21, 2006
Queensland environment groups blast sham Nuclear Taskforce findings
Queensland Nuclear Free Alliance urges all Queenslanders to see through the predictably pro-nuclear findings of John Howard’s hand-picked nuclear Taskforce released earlier today.
Queensland Nuclear Free Alliance asserts that the fatally flawed parameters of the Taskforce’s inquiry ensured that support for an expanded uranium industry, uranium processing and nuclear energy was a done deal.
"It is ironic that John Howard, who has consistently claimed that Australia ’s contribution to global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions is insignificant, is now using emissions to push the notion of nuclear power," Ms. Taubenfeld continues.
"The facts just don’t add up. Nuclear power is not clean or green and it is certainly not the solution to climate change."
“ Australia has the technology and the resources to power itself and reduce GHG emissions through efficiency and renewable energy." “The nuclear industry is one of the dirtiest industries on the planet. The Taskforce was not required to factor in the millions of tonnes of radioactive waste in to either the costing of nuclear power or the environmental impacts of the industry.”
“The real bottom line is that someone, somewhere will have to look after the waste for hundreds of thousands of years,” states Friends of the Earth spokesperson Robin Taubenfeld. “Every uranium mine is a toxic waste dump meaning that nuclear power can never be clean, green, or cost effective.”
Earlier this year, the UK ’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority estimated that it would cost over 70 billion Pounds to clean up the UK ’s existing waste. Queensland Nuclear Free Alliance is also concerned about the ethical and political implications of expanding the nuclear industry. “Value-adding” to uranium by enriching it in Australia , would put Australia at risk of being seen to be on or near to the nuclear weapons path. It would certainly leave Australia open to being involved in uranium weapons production. Enrichment creates waste.” The waste, or U238, is also euphemistically called “depleted uranium” and is now used by the US as standard munitions: munitions banned by the UN."
“One must remember - Nuclear power is the only energy form with a direct link to weapons production. Nuclear bombs outnumber nuclear power reactors 60 to 1 (60:1). No amount of possible profit justifies that.”
" Queensland rejects Howard's Taskforce report as the rhetoric one would expect from the stacked deck Howard played it from… it reads just like an uncritical advertisement for the industry."
For comment: Queensland Nuclear Free Alliance Robin Taubenfeld 0411 118 737
The Queensland Nuclear Free Alliance includes:
Brisbane Peace Convergence, Brisbane Regional Environment Council, Cairns and Far North Region Environment Council, Citizens Against Depleted Uranium Use, Depleted Uranium Silent Killer, Everyone for a Nuclear Free Future, Friends of the Earth Brisbane, Food Irradiation Watch, Just Peace Qld, Medical Association for the Prevention of War, Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific, Queensland Conservation Council, Australian Democrats, Queensland Greens, Shoalwater Wilderness Awareness Group, Rally for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament, Sunshine Coast Environment Council, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom