Q: Is it safe to have a nuclear reactor in Australia?

A: It is as safe as other clean energy, like solar and wind, and a lot safer than oil and gas.

Coal-fired power plants emit air pollutants that cause respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses; hundreds of Australians die prematurely each year due to coal pollution, and it’s estimated to cost the country around $2.4 billion annually in health expenses.

Nuclear power generation produces no air pollution and has an exceptional safety record. Numerous studies and reviews show that nuclear energy is among the safest forms of electricity generation – its fatality rate (deaths from accidents and pollution per unit of electricity) is comparable to that of wind and solar, and orders of magnitude lower than coal or gas.

The death rate from accidents and air pollution in the figure above includes deaths from the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents.  Nuclear energy is a very mature technology with over 20,000 power reactor years of operation since the first nuclear power plants in the 1950s.

By displacing fossil fuels, nuclear power saves lives. Nuclear power plants have caused far fewer deaths or injuries than fossil fuel plants.

Overall, the evidence in Australia and worldwide indicates that shifting from coal and gas to nuclear energy would dramatically reduce risks to human health and safety by cutting air pollution and greenhouse emissions.