Pirate Congress 2022/Motions/Nuclear Energy

PM-3 Nuclear Energy - Position Statement
Put by: Tyrone D'Lisle

Motion
Adopt the following as a Position Statement.

Statement
Pirate Party Australia is committed to Australia achieving net zero by 2050 whilst also ensuring we retain a high standard of living. This will require the adoption of reliable and affordable clean energy technologies over the coming decades.

Nuclear energy has demonstrated for nearly 70 years that it can provide reliable and affordable energy without producing the dangerous pollution or greenhouse gases associated with the burning of fossil fuels. Despite a small number of notable accidents, nuclear remains one of the safest forms of energy available to humanity.

As environmental considerations have become a higher priority within the energy sector, new research has shown that nuclear energy, apart from being safe, has a lifecycle environmental footprint equal to or lower than technologies such as wind and solar. This makes its lifecycle environmental footprint among the lowest, if not the lowest, of all energy sources available today.

A number of countries which historically transitioned to nuclear energy also saw a transition of their existing fossil fuel energy workforce, this provided a ‘Just Transition’ for workers and their communities. Countries are again hoping to achieve this by using small modular reactors, which are capable of being located on the site of existing fossil fuel thermal plants, as a means for providing a ‘Just Transition’.

For these reasons, Pirate Party Australia supports the removal of prohibitions on nuclear energy (both fission and fusion), nuclear fuel fabrication and reprocessing, and uranium mining in Australia at all levels of government, while retaining prohibitions on weapons-grade processing and abiding by nuclear non-proliferation agreements.

Rationale
There is strong scientific consensus surrounding the safety and environmental footprint of nuclear energy. The challenge of moving away from fossil fuels is immense and leading organisations such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) all point to the world needing to increase the use of nuclear energy as part of the move away from fossil fuels.

There is growing support within the Australian public for nuclear energy and Australia’s current prohibitions on nuclear energy and related activities is not in alignment with public opinion or scientific evidence. Pirate Party Australia should show leadership on this issue by adopting this statement.