A southern Riverina council's survey on erecting a nuclear power generator has returned inconclusive results, despite nearly half of respondents "strongly opposing" the plan.
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The survey, circulated by Murrumbidgee Council, aimed to gauge the opinions on nuclear power generation within the council's jurisdiction, which includes Jerilderie, Coleambally and Darlington Point.
Respondents were asked: "Do you support the construction of a nuclear power plant within the Murrumbidgee Council local government area, on the condition that the wind and solar farms are dismantled and not replaced at the end of their useful life?"
Out of 197 responses, 97 people (49.24 per cent) "strongly oppose" the proposed plan, while 66 people (33.5 per cent) "strongly support" it.
Additionally, 10 people (5.08 per cent) expressed "medium opposition", six people (3.05 per cent) were neutral, and 18 people (9.14 per cent) showed "medium support".
The responses came from Coleambally and surrounds (58), Darlington Point and surrounds (44), Jerilderie and surrounds (41), and "a different LGA" (54).
Although the results suggest that 54 per cent are against and only 42 per cent are in favour, Murrumbidgee Council general manager John Scarce said it is hard to tell if the 54 votes from outside the LGA influenced the results.
"The survey results were close enough for council to go to its next stage, which is to actually conduct a poll during the local government election (on September 14, 2024)," he said.
"(After the election), we'll have something that we can take to the federal government to say which way it is.
"If they're in favour of it, then yes. If they're not, then we'll tell the federal government to find somewhere else to put a nuclear power station."
Mr Scarce said the survey was held because the community was not consulted about the initial installation of solar and wind farms.
"Nobody asked anybody down here whether they wanted the solar farms and wind farms taking up tens of thousands of hectares of land and taking good agricultural land out of production," Mr Scarce said.
"They just did it because they thought they could. So that was the whole reason why Murrumbidgee Council went down the road of finding out about nuclear, because a nuclear power plant footprint is a lot less than tens of thousands of hectares.
"Yet, it does exactly the same thing. It's green energy."
Layton Holley
Layton is a journalist at The Border Mail. He is interested in profiles, features, and hard news. If you have a story please reach out to him at layton.holley@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Layton is a journalist at The Border Mail. He is interested in profiles, features, and hard news. If you have a story please reach out to him at layton.holley@austcommunitymedia.com.au
