New polling has revealed a gender divide in the way Australians think about nuclear power.
A national survey found a mere 26% of women thought nuclear would be good for Australia, compared with 51% of men.
Women are strongly opposed to nuclear energy and are most concerned any consideration of the controversial power source will delay the switch to renewables.
Only one in three of the men surveyed were willing to live near a nuclear plant.
Almost two-thirds (63%) of women said they do not want to live near a nuclear plant and more than half (57%) do not think transporting radioactive waste is worth the risk.
The DemosAU poll of 6709 adults between July 2 and November 24 also found a higher percentage of men (42%) said they were concerned about the safety of the technology than those who were not concerned.
A women’s climate change movement, 1 Million Women, surveyed an additional 3351 women and found 93% of its supporters were concerned about nuclear energy.
The findings come as a federal inquiry into nuclear power generation is scheduled to hold a public hearing in Melbourne.
Community leaders, unions and grassroots organisations plan to gather outside to declare “our shared energy future is renewable, not radioactive”.
The opposition is readying to fight for nuclear energy at the next federal election, with plans to build reactors at seven sites across Australia but no details as yet on how they will be paid for.
The Climate Council said it was concerned the coalition was relying on one private sector “base case” rather than expert costings on nuclear power from bodies such as the AEMO.