00:00The retiring MUJA coal-fired power plants just outside Coley ground zero in WA for the
00:07Coalition's flagship energy policy.
00:09Locals caught in the political crossfire.
00:12I'm open to it, honestly.
00:13I think the rest of the world are using it, have been using it for a really long time.
00:17It's more about politics than it is about the nuclear power.
00:21It's got to be part of our energy mix for Australia as a progressive country.
00:25As far as the safety is concerned, that becomes an issue and that's a worry for the town's
00:29people of Coley.
00:31The state government has been trying to shift Coley away from coal to renewable energy and
00:34turn it into a tourist town.
00:36It sees the nuclear proposal as a threat to its energy transition plan.
00:41Nuclear will destroy investment in new renewable energy because a nuclear power plant has one
00:46speed, it's flat out, you can't dial it down, you can't dial it up so easily, it's not flexible.
00:53The state Liberals aren't opposed but aren't swinging fully behind their federal colleagues
00:57either.
00:58We've consistently said that given the abundance of gas in Western Australia, given the network
01:04challenges here as well, we do not believe that nuclear power would stack up in the short
01:12term.
01:13For some worried about their future in Coley though, nuclear power would bring certainty.
01:19Having something like this that will be in our town for a long period of time, I think
01:22it gives us a bit more security and makes us a bit eased about this whole coal mine
01:27situation.
01:28We have another option to keep our town moving.
01:30But in an already parched state, water is always a concern.
01:34A nuclear power station needs heaps of cooling water, where's that going to come from?
01:40We don't have the water in Coley in the Coley Basin.
01:43For many living here in Coley, views on how this coal town transitions away from what
01:47it knows to a new source of energy are polarising, with many split on the town's future.
01:53But it seems everyone agrees more information is needed if the town is to go nuclear.
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