Nuclear waste a cause for concern, say SA church members

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A nuclear waste dump in South Australia could meet a “global need” and take 13% of the world’s waste, according to tentative findings recently released by the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission.

Established by the SA government in March 2015, the Commission was tasked with investigating the state’s participation in the four stages of the nuclear fuel cycle, which include uranium mining and waste management.

In the findings released on Monday 15 February, the Commission suggested an expansion of uranium processing in SA would be unlikely to provide significant opportunities for financial growth.

“However,” the report states, “fuel leasing, which links uranium processing with its eventual return for disposal, is more likely to be commercially attractive, creating additional employment and technology-transfer opportunities.”

Over 120 years, a 138,000-tonne facility in SA could also generate more than $257 billion in revenue, with costs of $145 billion.

While no particular site has been nominated for the nuclear waste dump, the Commission’s findings have quickly produced discussion in the wider community and amongst members of the Uniting Church SA.

Several leaders within the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) in Australia have already expressed concerns over the Commission’s current thinking on nuclear waste.

A federal government plan to build a nuclear waste dump in South Australia in 1998 was strongly protested by locals, particularly members of Aboriginal communities.

While discussions about this waste dump were still taking place in 2000, the Uniting Church in Australia adopted a Nuclear Fuel Cycle Policy.

This policy a statement on the Church’s commitment to “solidarity with Indigenous peoples in their struggle for full participation in decision-making and harm minimisation in their traditional lands regarding all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle.”

Protests, campaigns and a challenge from the SA government eventually put an end to the 1998 nuclear waste dump plan.

Since that time, nuclear waste from Australia has been shipped to locations in France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Members of the Uniting Church SA Environment Action Group have expressed their concern over the most recent move to bring nuclear waste to SA.

“The benefits – in dollar terms and economic strength – will assist a great number of people across SA,” says Rev Liellie McLaughlin. “[But] those who will ‘pay’ are the disadvantaged, the Indigenous and those without voice.”

Rev Brian Polkinghorne talked about the issue in terms of stewardship.

“Someone once tried to justify that ‘coal is good’ by saying that if everything God made was good then it is good to use coal. As I understand it, certainly God made everything ‘good’, but then invited humankind to ‘till the earth and care for it’ [Genesis 2:15],” he says.

“In that system of thinking, uranium is good. But by using it as we do, are we fulfilling the stewardship opportunity to care for the harmony of creation? Or are we inviting further destruction of the environment and human health?”

The potential effects of a nuclear waste dump in South Australia – on the land and within Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities – will continue to be discussed in the lead up to the presentation of the Commission’s full report on Friday 6 May, 2016.

The Commission will hold a series of public presentations across South Australia over the next five weeks, visiting cities and towns including Port Pirie, Port Augusta, Whyalla, Port Lincoln, Mount Gambier, Ceduna, Renmark, Oak Valley and Umuwa. More information about these meetings is available here.

Members of the community are invited to respond to the Commission’s tentative findings by 5pm on Friday 18 March, 2016. The final report will be delivered on Friday 6 May, 2016.


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