Nuclear and Uranium

No nuclear power, weapons or mining. Future generations must not be burdened with toxic nuclear waste for which there is no safe disposal.

Principles

The Australian Greens believe that:

  1. The burden of Australia’s nuclear supply chain and proposed waste storage is disproportionately borne by First Nations peoples. It significantly and negatively impacts on their culture, connection to country, well-being, and their right to manage land, natural resources, and water.
  2. The world should be free of nuclear weapons and the nuclear fuel chain.
  3. There is a strong link between the mining and export of uranium and nuclear weapons proliferation.
  4. Nuclear weapons, nuclear accidents or attacks on reactors all pose unacceptable risks of catastrophic consequences for humans and the environment. There is no effective way to address nuclear disaster, therefore nuclear weapons should be eliminated and nuclear energy production should be phased out.
  5. Future generations must not be burdened with dangerous levels of radioactive waste.
  6. Nuclear power is not a safe, clean, timely, economic or practical solution to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
  7. Australia's reliance on the United States nuclear weapons 'umbrella', which lends our bases, ports and infrastructure to the US nuclear war fighting apparatus, poses a significant threat to peace and disarmament.

Aims

The Australian Greens want:

  1. A world free of nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
  2. The cessation of Australian uranium mining and export.
  3. Medical support and compensation provided to workers occupationally exposed to radiation.
  4. Compensation for the victims of British nuclear weapons testing in Australia, and rehabilitation of nuclear test sites.
  5. Uranium mining companies to be liable for rehabilitation of uranium mining sites and be subject to enforcement of standards to safely contain and monitor radioactive tailings wastes for at least 10,000 years.
  6. The rehabilitation of contaminated sites containing radioactive materials across Australia including former uranium mines milling sites, testing and exploration sites, research and production facilities and storage sites across the country.
  7. Closure of Australia's ports and territorial waters to nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed vessels.
  8. Removal from Australian territory of all facilities which enable deployment of nuclear weapons.
  9. Prohibition of food irradiation and the importation of such food.
  10. Prohibition of the importation and reprocessing of international nuclear waste and fuel rods.
  11. Greater funding and research for the development of non-reactor technologies, such as particle accelerators, for the production of radioisotopes for medical and scientific purposes, with the aim of closing the OPAL nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights as soon as possible.
  12. Safe, long-term containment of Australia’s existing nuclear waste and the phasing out of the generation of new nuclear waste.
  13. The elimination of nuclear weapons, through a commitment to legally binding instruments to prohibit nuclear weapons, specifically, for Australia to sign the UN Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
  14. To support the creation of nuclear weapon free zones, municipalities and ports.
  15. To cease production and use of depleted uranium weapons.
  16. The prohibition of nuclear power plants and the promotion of safe, ecologically sustainable energy options.
  17. The prohibition of government funding of mining, research, development and commercialisation of technologies directly related to the enrichment or weaponisation of nuclear material.
  18. The prohibition of the mining and export of thorium.

(Nuclear and Uranium Policy as amended by Special National Conference August 2020.)