Why W.A. Premier’s reasons for a uranium ban are Wrong

Alan Carpenter has given two reasons for his uranium ban. Both are wrong.

He says the West would become a nuclear waste dump. Wrong.
He says the world’s moving away from nuclear energy. Also wrong.

Here’s the truth:

FIRST: Exporting uranium so that countries overseas can use it to produce climate-friendly electricity for their growing economies does not mean we take back any nuclear waste. In 30 years of exporting uranium, we never have. Countries that use uranium to produce electricity are fully responsible for any waste that’s generated. They manage it. Safely.

But Alan Carpenter says by allowing uranium mining “we would then immediately be opening the door to Western Australia becoming a nuclear waste dump site”. This is not just wrong – it’s probably something from a focus group. And it doesn’t take long to see that it’s nonsense. Why Western Australia? And why now?

Western Australia exports millions of tonnes of iron ore, gold, silver – even high-carbon coal – each year. Does the West take back coal ash or slag from Chinese steel mills and store it here? Of course not. There’s no obligation to. In any event, there are national laws against importing nuclear waste to Australia.

SECOND: When he announced his prohibition plan, Alan Carpenter said: “The whole world is moving towards a green energy future, and much of the world is moving away from nuclear power.” Also wrong. Countries like China, Thailand, Vietnam, all see nuclear as one way to lift their countries out of poverty and into the 21st Century with reliable, low-carbon electricity from uranium-fuelled reactors. We may not need it, but they do. Even Italy and Egypt are going nuclear. That’s on top of the 30 countries already using nuclear. Producing much more than ten times the electricity the
world gets from renewables.

Just ask Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the International Panel on Climate Change, who said: “I have never seen a credible scenario for reducing emissions that did not include nuclear energy”.  Alan Carpenter has given two wrong reasons for banning uranium exports. Now here are eight good ones for sending the West’s uranium overseas:

1. To offset all WA’s greenhouse gas emissions for the next 15 to 20 years.
2. To compensate for WA having much higher greenhouse gas emissions per person than the Australian average.
3. To provide real economic opportunities for indigenous Western Australians.
4. To earn $460 million extra in State revenue by 2030.
5. To boost WA’s economic growth by $3.2 billion over the same period.
6. To help poorer countries fuel their growth with clean energy.
7. To help WA keeps its place as Australia’s resource powerhouse State.
8. To show our trading partners WA is still open for business.