Skip navigation

Nuclear Energy in Australia Position Statement

Nuclear power has no place in Australia’s energy transition.

Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) does not support nuclear energy as a means of decarbonising Australia’s stationary energy generation and mitigating climate change. All Australia’s energy needs can ultimately be met from renewable sources, in combination with storage technology and energy efficiencies.

DEA does not support nuclear energy because it:

  • is unnecessary, uneconomical, and not flexible enough for changing energy needs
  • carries high health and safety risks
  • is a significant security risk
  • creates high-level radioactive waste, which cannot be safely disposed of and for which there is no known secure long-term storage
  • requires large amounts of water
  • cannot decarbonise the energy sector fast enough to avert catastrophic climate change
  • is neither renewable nor a low emissions energy source, if the entire nuclear life cycle from mining fuel to decommissioning of the reactor is considered
  • distracts from and delays more reliable, safer and less costly existing and developing technologies
  • emerges from the history of nuclear weapons testing and uranium mining on First Nations lands without consent, and may continue to disproportionately affect First Nations people.

 

Nuclear Energy in Australia Position Statement - PDF (June 2024)