Casey probes effect of nuclear station

By Callan Date
A NUCLEAR power station could be on Casey Council’s agenda.
Councillor Rob Wilson moved a motion at Tuesday’s council meeting requesting a report be prepared looking at both the positive and negative effects of a nuclear power station or nuclear waste storage facility in Casey.
Cr Wilson said council needed to be pro-active and not reactive when dealing with the contentious topic of nuclear energy.
The motion was carried despite councillor Mick Morland slamming the idea as a total waste of council’s time and money.
Cr Morland said the Federal Government would make any decision regarding nuclear energy and it would be unlikely to occur “within the lifetime of this council”.
“We have people in Lyndhurst complaining about toxic waste being dumped in their area. This is nuclear waste,” Cr Morland said.
He said the report would be well outdated when any decision regarding nuclear energy in Casey is made.
There was also debate on who would prepare the report, with mayor Colin Butler voicing his concerns over the potential cost of employing nuclear physicists to help with the study.
Cr Wilson responded by saying it was possible to use the internet search engine Google to research the report.
The nuclear issue comes after a research centre reported in June last year that Western Port was an ideal site for a nuclear power plant.
Residents of the bay’s coastal villages were furious at the suggestion, and called on the government to rule out Western Port as a possible site.
The area was identified because of its proximity to the coast providing access to the large volumes of cooling water required by a nuclear power station.
Other criteria include its proximity to major transmission lines and a major load centre, Melbourne, and good rail and port access to transport fuel rods.