Nuclear power is not a safe, clean, timely, economically viable or practical solution to the problem of greenhouse gas emissions. Alternatives to nuclear energy exist today which make the nuclear power industry obsolete.
There are environmental, health, security and social risks associated with every facet of the nuclear industry. These risks disproportionately impact First Nations peoples and their lands. There are strong links between the mining and export of uranium and nuclear weapon proliferation. Future generations must not be burdened with dangerous levels of radioactive waste.
The Greens (WA) call for a complete and permanent ban on the mining, processing, import, export, transport of uranium in Western Australia, and seek to minimise, with the goal of eliminating, Western Australia's role in the global nuclear supply chain. The importing and exporting of uranium, thorium, and nuclear waste, to or from Western Australia must be prohibited.
Aims
The Greens (WA) want a nuclear free future for Western Australia and oppose:
- the mining and export of Western Australian uranium
- the construction of any nuclear reactors in Western Australia
- the transport of feedstock and products of the nuclear fuel chain, and nuclear weapons, through Western Australia or in Australian waters (other than radioisotopes for medical or other peaceful scientific purposes)
- any visits by nuclear powered or armed vessels to our ports
- the surface storage or permanent deep burial of high-level nuclear waste in Western Australia
- any promotion of the nuclear power or weapons industries
Measures
The Greens (WA) will initiate and support legislation and actions that:
- amend the Mining Act 1978 to prohibit uranium mining in Western Australia (see also The Greens (WA) Resource Mining policy)
- cancel existing mining tenements and begin a process of negotiating the end to State Agreements held for the express purposes of uranium mining
- ban the processing or exporting of thorium or any other minerals specifically intended for use in the nuclear industry
- prohibit the importation of any classified radioactive waste material, from any source, into Western Australia
- prohibit the development of any production-scale nuclear reactor in Western Australia
- block any proposed development of any nuclear waste disposal facilities, other than facilities to manage and store low-level medical waste generated in Western Australia
- establish a State register of all workers involved with radioactive materials, and support research into the short and long term effects of these workers' exposure to all levels of radiation and / or make public the National Dose Register data (see also The Greens (WA) Workplace Relations policy)
- significantly invest in non-reactor technologies for the safe production of the radioisotopes currently used for medical and scientific purposes
- oppose any facilities in Western Australia being developed or used for the US National Missile Defence system, or similar weapons capability for any foreign power (see also the Australian Greens Peace and Security policy)
- close all military communication facilities involved in nuclear weapons activities
- prohibit visits by nuclear powered and/or armed vessels
- support the ongoing negotiation of an effective International Nuclear Weapons Convention prohibiting the development, production, testing, deployment, stockpiling, transfer, threat or use of nuclear weapons and providing for their accelerated elimination
(See also the Australian Greens Nuclear and Uranium policy)
Nuclear Issues policy ratified by The Greens (WA) in 2020