PM gives strong backing to nuclear power
`Prime Minister John Howard has given his strongest support yet to the use of nuclear power in Australia, backing the local development of the “clean” energy industry.
An expert taskforce is due to release a draft report next month on the merits of nuclear power and whether Australia should be thinking of value-adding options, such as enrichment, for its vast uranium stores.
But before the experts have even had their say, Mr Howard has indicated he believes nuclear power is an industry Australia should be developing.’
October 17th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
Pretty simple really. Howard is trying to legitimise nuclear power by calling it a solution to climate change. He will use this as a cover to increase uranium mining in Australia.
His goal is to make Australia an “energy superpower”, by increasing exports of Uranium to the US, China and whoever else will take it.
Read more about it here.
October 17th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
There is no need to try and legitimise nuclear power. It’s already quite legitimate. We should be mining uranium and getting our energy from it – it is a much cleaner technology than burning oil, coal and gas. Except for the problems of dealing with the waste – but it’s better than just releasing the waste into the atmosphere as we do with current technologies.
We’re rapidly running out of oil [although we do have a fair bit of coal left] and we need to start investing in alternative energy sources – and nuclear fission is the only alternative to fossil fuel based technologies that is advanced enough to fill the gap.
Until we figure out fusion, or learn to make solar more cost effective. Or if that geothermal technology takes off.