New analysis reveals the staggering volumes of water required to keep nuclear reactors cool.
The analysis, issued today by the Australian Conservation Foundation shows an average-sized 1GW nuclear reactor consumes around 50 million litres of water a day – that’s 20 Olympic swimming pools of water every day.
It’s also 25% more water than an equivalent coal-fired power station consumes in a day.
“To pour this much scarce freshwater into a nuclear reactor every day would place another strain on Australia’s already stretched water resources, harming rivers and wildlife and further diminishing the water available for farmers,” said ACF’s nuclear analyst Dave Sweeney.
“Internationally, many nuclear plants are located on the coast and use sea water for cooling, but this is not without its problems. As sea temperatures rise, the capacity for cooling reduces.
“High sea and river temperatures have caused some nuclear plants in Europe to cut back on electricity production. Discharging heated water into these environments can damage ecosystems that are already under pressure from heatwaves caused by climate change.
“Over its lifespan, a single one gigawatt reactor would generate 300m³ of high-level radioactive waste – enough to fill a large grain silo or five backyard swimming pools – which remains dangerous for up to 100,000 years. There is no solution for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste, even from countries that have had operational nuclear reactors for many decades.
“Water scarcity and long-lived radioactive waste are just two of the many risks that comes with nuclear; the risk of nuclear accidents is another.
“New mapping by Don’t Nuke the Climate shows how a Fukushima-scale nuclear accident at each of the Coalition’s proposed nuclear reactor sites would spread radiation to the surrounding regions.
“In an increasingly unsafe world, we need to choose safe energy options. We can’t have a nuclear disaster if we don’t have nuclear reactors.
“The fact is we don’t need nuclear. Renewables are going gangbusters in Australia, already providing 40% of the electricity in the grid.
“Solar is a great, affordable clean energy option and in fact, for just a fraction of the Coalition’s nuclear price tag, the government could install solar with a battery on every Australian home that doesn’t already have it.
“It seems like a no-brainer, without the massive risk of waste and the drain on our precious water resources.”