He was commenting during a series of presentations by staff from each of the university's four academic divisions at an inter-divisional research forum titled "A Nuclear New Zealand?" at the university's St David lecture theatre.
About 30 people attended.
The meeting was chaired by Prof Majella Franzmann, who initiated the forum in part to promote wider dialogue across different university disciplines.
Prof Brooking said that supplementing New Zealand's energy sources with nuclear power would fatally damage the country's "clean green" image abroad, on which much of the New Zealand's export trade and tourism depended.
He also warned about the danger of adopting merely an "engineering solution" to key national problems, and emphasised the need to include perspectives drawn from the humanities, including a sense of history.
Speakers generally agreed that New Zealand had no need to opt for nuclear electricity generation, having many other options, including "distributed" small-scale wind and solar power production and energy conservation measures, such as better home insulation and more fuel-efficient cars.
Dr Geoff Kearsley emphasised New Zealand had many energy alternatives, including huge reserves of coal and lignite.
Geology senior lecturer Dr Michael Palin said developing countries would need nuclear generation to meet future energy needs.
Emeritus Prof David Stewart said New Zealand needed nuclear medicine products imported from Australia for key medical testing and therapy.
Prof Rob Lawson, of commerce, said that the use of nuclear power internationally, without sufficient regard to the environmental costs of nuclear fuel disposal and the decommissioning of nuclear power plants, amounted to mortgaging the future of the planet.
