By Jim Green
SYDNEY — People Against a Nuclear Reactor (PANR), the group opposing the federal government's plan to build another nuclear reactor in the southern Sydney suburb of Lucas Heights, will boycott the environmental impact assessment set up by the government to co-opt and demobilise the campaign.
The final straw for PANR was an invitation from PPK, the consultants hired by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation which has been granted $6 million to prepare its case, to attend a workshop to be addressed by a nuclear spin-doctor and then identify and prioritise the relevant issues.
The issues have been well-known for decades. They are reactor safety, radioactive waste mismanagement, secrecy and deception, the health effects of radioactive emissions and the fact that a reactor is not needed for medical or scientific purposes.
In a letter to PPK, PANR secretary Leonie Kelly stated that another nuclear reactor would have "disastrous implications for our community" and that "we have a monumental task to convince our unresponsive federal government of this fact".
Kelly condemned PPK's refusal to conduct an open public meeting on the proposal, provide a complete list of the names and qualifications of their study team, and make the scientific and technical studies informing their appraisal available for public scrutiny. She said PPK and ANSTO's tactics were "clandestine and manipulative".
PANR is now focussing on improving cooperation between the campaigns against the reactor, uranium mining and the proposed radioactive waste dump in South Australia.
People Against a Nuclear Reactor can be contacted at (02)9545 3077 or PO Box 595, Sutherland NSW 2322.