House debates
Monday, 24 June 2024
Questions without Notice
Nuclear Waste Management: Submarines
2:58 pm
Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister, and I refer to the Deputy Prime Minister's earlier answer in confirmation that waste from the nuclear propulsion system will be stored on the submarine in the reactor for many years. Can the Deputy Prime Minister confirm that it is safe for the submariners to be in that environment?
Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
It's still being used!
Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Order! The Minister for Home Affairs and the minister for infrastructure. If the minister for infrastructure and transport continues to interject, she will be warned. I want the House to come to order. The Leader of the Opposition was heard in silence. This continual interjecting on my right has to stop; otherwise, I'll be issuing a general warning to members on my right.
2:59 pm
Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. For his benefit, I'll try and take this slowly. There are eight sealed nuclear reactors which are going to be utilised for the nuclear powered submarines that the Navy will operate. What a sealed nuclear reactor means is that, for the life of the reactor, it does not need to be refuelled. So it exists within the reactor. When the reactor is disposed of is the first moment that there is a need to dispose of high-level nuclear waste.
Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Order, the Minister for Home Affairs. The member for Robertson will cease interjecting. The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order.
Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
It's on relevance. And, perhaps, to be of assistance to the minister, the propulsion system burns energy—that's how the system is working—and it's stored in the—
Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Resume your seat.
Resume your seat. You don't have the call. The microphone's not on. Order! The Leader of the Opposition's getting into the habit of abusing the standing orders. It's not an excuse to get up and give a statement. He knows that. Out of the respect I have for his office—it is not in order to raise other material. It's going to be really simple. If this behaviour continues, I don't have to take points of order, as other Speakers have done. If people abuse the standing orders, they'll immediately leave. I'm just setting, for the next two weeks, how things are going to roll.
Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Actually, it doesn't burn any fuel, because burning is oxidisation, which is what happens in an internal combustion engine, which is exactly what happens when you use hydrocarbons. What this is is a nuclear reaction which gives rise to power. That is what happens inside the sealed nuclear reactor. The point is that the waste that will need to be disposed of—
Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Order! The member for Swan is warned.
Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
is there to be disposed of when that reactor has reached its end of life, and that is in the early 2050s.
Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
But the point is this—
Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
A simple nuclear reactor that is designed to power cities uses fuel rods. There are spent fuel rods, which are not the size of a can of Coke but are actually measured in tonnes, which will be produced each and every year from the moment that you operate that power station. They will need to be disposed of as soon as that occurs. If these reactors that the Leader of the Opposition is proposing for a civil nuclear industry are to have any impact at all on achieving zero net emissions by 2050, then we are talking about those reactors being in place in the 2030s and the 2040s, which means we're talking about tonnes of waste in the 2030s and the 2040s. We are talking about the need to dispose of our first spent nuclear reactor in the early 2050s.
Government members interjecting—
Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Order! Members on my right will cease interjecting. The minister for regional development is now warned. This free-for-all on day one is not acceptable. Members on my right need to show some more restraint so I can hear. The member for Bendigo's been on her feet. She deserves to be heard in silence.