Lucas Heights Senate Inquiry LUCAS HEIGHTS | ACTION | NEWS

By the time you receive this newsletter, the report of the Senate Select Committee Inquiry into the Contract for a New Reactor at Lucas Heights will have been tabled in the Senate (Wed 23 or Thur 24 May). Anti-nuclear activists are expecting the report to recommend that a new reactor not be built or that much more stringent conditions be applied. If you didn’t hear what happened, check out the report here. Key figures from the ALP have made strong statements about not wanting to build a new reactor in Sydney, but it is not clear yet whether an ALP government would try to build it somewhere else in Australia, and/or whether it would be willing to break the contract with the Argentinians. (Unfortunately, ALP science spokesperson, Martyn Evans, has admitted telling the Argentinian ambassador that Labor has “never been in the business of simply cancelling contracts.”) A strong Senate Inquiry report about how dodgy the contract is will obviously strengthen the antinuclear lobby within the ALP which we hope will take us through to complete victory in this campaign to build NO new nuclear reactor in Sydney and close down Lucas Heights. Part of the $1/2 billion saved (half our science budget) could then be spent on ensuring that the transition to the use of non-reactor sources of medical isotopes is as rapid as possible - while protecting the public by importing still-needed reactor-sourced isotopes over the next few years’ transition time. There were seven Senators on this Inquiry, 3 ALP, 2 Liberal, 1 National and 1 Democrat. WA’s Ross Lightfoot was there, as embarrassingly pro-nuclear as they get! (He was recently dropped from the WA Liberal Senate ticket.) Hundreds of submissions were presented, marshalled by campaigners from Sydney-based groups People Against a New Reactor, Sydney People Against a New Nuclear Reactor, Sutherland Shire Council, Greenpeace, and from other groups around the country including CANNWA’s Perth, South-West and Geraldton groups. This campaign is not yet over but we hope the Senate Inquiry has been a major milestone on the right road. Here’s hoping that it will be one of those campaigns like saving the Franklin River or the ending of the Australian whaling industry that can be cited to inspire schoolkids and counter those who ask “Why waste your time and energy making a fuss? It won’t make any difference.” STOP PRESS... The Committee's findings vindicate everyone who has opposed the reactor in the last few years: it appears to be the most rigorous, comprehensive condemnation of the project so far. "the Committee finds that no conclusive or compelling case has been established to support the proposed new reactor and that the proposed new reactor should not proceed." To check out the Report go to http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/lucasheights_ctte/report/contents.htm Brenda Conochie with help from Dr Jim Green www.geocities.com/jimgreen3

the Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia email admin@anawa.org.au