![South-west will 'need nuclear power to stay competitive on world stage' South-west will 'need nuclear power to stay competitive on world stage'](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/379mw9XPZ7UFRqmwjWhGKkr/8a2c4e26-1c47-4c7c-859f-68938ed4f529.jpg/r0_1_1200_676_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Nuclear power will ensure Western Victorian manufacturers have a secure supply of energy in the future, according to Member for Wannon Dan Tehan.
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He said Australia needed to follow the lead of other countries and invest in nuclear energy.
"Every other major industrialised country either has nuclear power or is proposing to get it because they see it as one of the key ingredients to get to net zero by 2050," Mr Tehan said.
"If we are to make sure that we can continue to manufacture in this country, which is vital for Western Victoria, we have to make sure we've got a secure supply of power that enables manufacturing and the jobs that go with it."
Mr Tehan said it was important to dispel some of the myths about the safety aspects of nuclear power.
"We've just got to keep giving people examples of how safe the technology is now," he said.
Mr Tehan said while the south-west needed a secure energy supply in the future, he didn't believe a nuclear facility would be built in the region.
"The most logical place for low emission nuclear facilities to be placed is where there are existing retiring coal-fired facilities," he said.
"The most logical place in Victoria is the Latrobe Valley."
Opposition leader Peter Dutton vowed to build seven nuclear power plants in five states if the coalition won the federal election.
But three of those states have bans on nuclear power and Victoria Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio said she would take the issue to court if the Commonwealth tried to force her hand.
"We have very clear laws in Victoria that date back to 1983; we will not change those," she said.
"We will take every step necessary and if that includes legal steps, we'll do that to stop Peter Dutton's fantasy of dumping nuclear energy and nuclear waste in Victoria."
The sites nominated for nuclear plants include Loy Yang Power Station in Victoria, Callide and Tarong in Queensland, Mount Piper at Lithgow in central west NSW and Liddell in NSW's Hunter region.
Small, modular reactors would also be built at Northern Power Station in Port Augusta and at Muja Power Station, southeast of Perth.