Campaigns
There is a clear and ongoing link between nuclear weapons, nuclear power and the nuclear fuel chain.
The majority of countries that have nuclear weapons started the process by accessing nuclear reactors “solely” for nuclear power generation.
In addition to nuclear weapons concerns, the persistent problems associated with uranium mining and exports, nuclear power and long-lived nuclear waste are all key concerns for MAPW.
MAPW urges our government to consider redirecting the massive resources associated with these industries towards research, development and implementation of safe and renewable sources of energy in combination with improved efficiency of energy use.
Back in the 2006 report Illusion of Protection, MAPW recommended “Australia should stop its contribution to the global nuclear chain by phasing out mining and export of uranium.” We continue to this day to push for the phasing out of uranium mining and exports.
As of January 2021, when the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons enters into force, nuclear weapons will be illegal under international law.
Key reading
- Nuclear Waste - Planning Responsibly for the Future September 2023
- Australia's Nuclear Waste - Addressing the Myths, August 2021
- Submission regarding Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Intermediate Level Solid Waste Storage Facility Lucas Heights, NSW. July 2021
- Briefing note: Nuclear Waste and Nuclear Medicine in Australia March 2021
- Submission to the Inquiry into the Prerequisites for Nuclear Energy in Australia, 2019
- Submission on BHP Olympic Dam, 2019
- Key Questions Regarding Nuclear Waste, 2019
- Radiation and health paper by Dr Bill Williams 2016
- An Illusion of Protection: More than a decade after this report, nuclear safeguards remain hopelessly underfunded and under resourced. 46-page report by MAPW and ACF, 2006
NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP: KIMBA, SA
MAPW has been a vocal critic of the plan and process for the proposed National Radioactive Waste Management Facility in Kimba, SA.
The government campaign to persuade the residents of Kimba to accept a radioactive waste dump has been misleading and divisive, with much inaccurate information about risks and benefits, inflated employment promises, and very poor process to assess genuine community views.
On 12 November 2020, MAPW called for an open independent review of nuclear waste production and disposal in Australia, to create a careful evidence based long term best practice plan.
MAPW Vice-President Dr Margaret Beavis said, “We have plenty of time to properly review and plan a disposal facility that meets international best practice standards. The recent proposal did not meet those standards.
Contrary to disgraceful and dishonest government scaremongering, there is no threat to nuclear medicine in Australia. I and other MAPW members regularly rely on nuclear medicine in our clinical practice.”