ALP should say no to open slather uranium mining
Date: 24-Apr-2007
ACF has added its weight to the chorus of voices urging Labor Party delegates not to dump the ALP’s ‘no new uranium mines’ policy at the party’s national conference this week.
In a discussion paper released today ACF outlines some of the implications of Australia’s involvement in the uranium trade and challenges those seeking to expand the industry to detail how they intend to address these.
“If Labor wants to be taken seriously when it stands up against nuclear power then it must get serious about the fuel that makes nuclear power possible,” said ACF Executive Director Don Henry.
“The ‘no new mines’ policy is less than perfect – and a long way from what environment groups would like it to be – but it is not as illogical as its detractors claim and certainly not as unethical as an open-slather uranium policy would be.
“Labor’s existing policy is pragmatic in that it recognises the legal, sovereign risk and compensation issues posed by an immediate shutdown of the three existing commercial operations, while acknowledging the deep community concerns.
“It also recognises the serious unresolved issues around radioactive waste management, nuclear weapons and terrorist dirty bombs.
“The world has not become a safer place since the ALP’s policy was adopted and there is still no answer to the intractable problem of long-lived radioactive waste.
“Uranium is not copper or iron ore or gold. It is the starting point of one of the most hazardous and long lived industrial wastes in the world. And it remains the primary fuel for the most deadly weapons ever used by humans.
“It deserves special status and the current federal Labor policy recognises this.”
Labor’s policy challenge: The impacts and failures of the uranium industry (April 2007)
Nuclear power & uranium: not clean, not green
ACF Executive Director Don Henry
Recently ACF Executive Director Don Henry addressed the Queensland Media Club on the subject of nuclear power and uranium mining... more »