Nuclear power station at Eraring Power Station: Lake Macquarie council knocks back request to urge governments to remove ban for build

Brought to the table by Cr Colin Grigg, the motion asked Lake Macquarie City Council to urgently request a reversal of the prohibitions that have been in place since 1998 and consider the soon-to-close Eraring Power Station as a possible host for a nuclear power plant.

"I realise I am laying my head on the chopping block here," he said.

"People are concerned about rising prices with meter readers spotted around Lake Macquarie this week by many, with a grave concern for the size of the bill they may receive for power used.

"There is also rising concern from people about the ability of renewable to provide the baseload power necessary to keep the lights on.

"I'm not against renewables, but they don't seem to currently produce enough power to supply the need, we need something reliable as a supplement power when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine."

He suggested a "small modular reactor" could be the solution, located on the shores of western Lake Macquarie, with an option for the local or state government to acquire it and prepare for future baseload nuclear plant opportunities.

The idea was quickly shot down in flames, as Cr Brian Adamthwaite argued he wouldn't oppose it because it's a "conversial media bait situation that will get a great story" or because it's a One Nation policy - but because he felt in general it's "a rubbish idea".

"It doesn't stack up economically, the Australia Institute (AI) in its report on nuclear power said that it's far more expensive than other forms of power and its long history indicates it becomes more expensive over time, not less expensive," he said.

"Again, the AI says nuclear power is slow to build with the average build time taking decades, and it faces numerous delays nearly all relating to significant cost blow outs."

He argued Newcastle in particular was a poor location choice, given the horror earthquake of 1989 and subsequent tremors in Cessnock in 1994.

"Around the world we have learned it is a rubbish idea, what we need to do is think about the things that have a timeframe we can achieve, are economically viable, socially viable and certainly in the lower Hunter Valley think about things that are affected by earthquakes and Fukushima is probably the best example of why not to build a nuclear power station in a seismically sensitive area," he said.

While Australia holds almost one-third of the world's proven uranium reserves, underpinning exports of around 7,000 tonnes per year and about 10 per cent of the global supply - nuclear power production is banned under two main pieces of Commonwealth legislation.

The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998 and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act ban the approval, licensing, construction or operation of a nuclear fuel fabrication plant, a nuclear power plan, enrichment plant or reprocessing facility.

Individual states have their own legislation which also regulate nuclear activity.

Despite the ban, the conversation around nuclear power in Australia continues - as a Senate committee heard recently that the Liddell coal-fired power station would be an ideal location to build a nuclear power station.

As for Lake Macquarie, local councillors remained unconvinced - voting 12 to one against nuclear power at Eraring.

Cr David Belcher said there were a number of reasons why it wasn't a good idea, including the issue of where to store nuclear waste.

"Just to lay all my cards on the table madam mayor, in this one instance, very happy to be called a NIMBY [Not In My Backyard]," he said.

"We're not talking about somewhere far away where we can all go, 'isn't that a lovely idea?', it could potentially be at Eraring - a beautiful part of the lake where the residents really enjoy living there and would like to live there without the threat of a nuclear power station being built on top of them.

"I encourage all councillors not to support this and knock it on its head right here and now."

The motion was lost at Monday night's meeting.

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