Support for nuclear power in Muswellbrook
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00:00 How do you feel about nuclear power?
00:01 I've always been a bit on the fence of it. I like it because it's basically forever.
00:06 But there's that risk of it, um, something going sideways, which is what I don't like.
00:11 I've always been a little hesitant. If pressed, I'd say, yeah, go for nuclear power.
00:16 How do you feel about the idea that there could be a nuclear power station built in the up armour?
00:20 Yeah, not happy.
00:21 Why don't you like it?
00:22 I'm just not sure, too sure about whether they've fixed up all the problems with it. Pretty expensive to have, rather than coal.
00:33 Wayne, what do you think about nuclear?
00:34 I don't have a problem with it at all. I think it's a logical solution. I worked at Liddell Power Station before it shut down.
00:41 What did you do at Liddell?
00:42 I was an operator in the control room.
00:45 Yeah, okay.
00:46 No, I think it's a great idea. It's a logical move. And the number of disasters they've had have been caused by other things outside of their control.
00:59 So I don't see the threat at all.
01:00 Mate's the only way to go. We're the only way to go. Best deposits in Australia are here. The best deposits in the world, I should say, are here in Australia.
01:10 Yep.
01:10 And it's just, common sense has got to prevail.
01:13 Jacob, what do you think about nuclear power?
01:15 I think it's alright. I guess it doesn't pollute everything. It doesn't use much money. That's alright.
01:20 Oh, I think it'd be a great idea. We live in a country that's full of uranium. If they could change the legislation so that we could make it usable for nuclear power and clean, and we could find a suitable spot to put the nuclear power plant, it'd be a great, clean way to make base power.
01:40 I've been talking to people in Musselbrook today about their opinions regarding nuclear energy. Most of the people that I've spoken to are actually supportive of it. Are you surprised at that?
01:50 No, not at all. If I was to be elected leader of my community, that's what I hear all the time.
01:56 What about the time it would take to bring it online?
02:00 Well, that's something that's got to be discussed, and that's above my pay grade, I guess. Timelines, if they started this 10 years ago, we wouldn't be in this position that we are now. But we are in this now, so if we started now, 10 years time, we're going to be a lot further on down the track.
02:15 How do you feel about renewables?
02:17 Yeah, well, I think we've got to move forward.
02:20 Yep.
02:20 But, yeah. I'm just a bit worried about the price of the nuclear.
02:27 What about the cost to bring it online?
02:29 Mate, compare it to your renewables and see how it goes.
02:32 Better than renewables?
02:34 Oh, look, living up here where farms are getting affected by the cabling and everything else now, I think it's a much better idea.
02:45 What do you think about renewables?
02:47 I love them. I've got them at home on my house. I think they're very, it's a very good strategy. But, yeah, it's just the base load power that needs to be worked on. Batteries are a good idea, but they also use a lot of, they have a big carbon footprint to make the batteries.
03:08 Yep.
03:09 So, I think nuclear has been made very, like, what can I say, since the 50s and 60s, it's come a long way. It's a lot cleaner now. It's used in all other countries and we sell them all the uranium. So, yeah, why not use it ourselves?
03:27 Speaking to you, you've spoken to people, the former workers at the mining, the power generation at Lake Liddell and Bayswater. You know, if that's what they're reflective of, and they're telling us that there's not going to be enough energy in the renewables, then maybe, you know, that's something we have to look at and make a position of the council. But I'm not shocked by it, no.
03:47 Does council have a position on it?
03:49 We don't have a position on it at the moment, no.
03:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]