Nuclear power essential for energy security

The way ahead for Australia

Nuclear power is on the agenda from both sides of politics today, as Opposition leader Tony Abbott and Victorian Labor’s former state energy minister, Theo Theophanous, highlight its importance in Australia’s future energy policy.

This comes after I nearly crashed my car listening to the deluded ramblings of NSW Greens MP John Kaye on ABC Sydney yesterday morning, who, like all enviro-moonbats, thinks we should tackle climate change by shutting down our coal fired power stations, which provide our essential baseload electricity, and instead rely on fart power and sunbeams [that’s wind and solar – Ed]. I actually sent in a scathing text along those lines to Deborah Cameron, although I didn’t get to hear whether it was read out – anybody hear it?

And of course, they cannot possibly advocate nuclear, because they are still stuck in the 1970’s “Nuclear Power – No Thanks” bumper-sticker mentality, despite the fact that if climate change is really the catastrophic problem that the Greens say it is, nuclear is the only viable option for electricity generation. If the Greens were ever in power, the lights would really go out in Australia.

So it is encouraging to hear these sentiments echoed on both sides of politics:

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says nuclear power is the “only realistic way” for Australia to cut its carbon emissions but he will not take the policy to the next election.

Speaking at the Menzies Research Centre in Canberra, the opposition leader said nuclear power was the only proven way of generating the base load power Australia needed without producing carbon pollution.

The opposition leader was responding to comments by former defence force chief Peter Cosgrove, who said nuclear power was the only practical alternative to carbon-based energy resources such as coal.

Mr Abbott said that if “the most urgent task confronting humanity is to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions” the “only realistic way to do that in ways which maintain living standards” was to move to nuclear energy.

However, he will not be taking it to the next election [why not? – Ed].

“That’s not the policy of the Liberal Party [It should be – Ed]. It will not be the policy of the Liberal Party between now and the next election.

“Nevertheless, it is a debate that this country should have.” (source)

And Labor is so dependent on the Greens that they cannot press the nuclear button (so to speak) for fear of losing preferences. However, at least one outgoing Labor energy minister has the guts to speak the truth, and the words are so similar to Abbott’s that you’d think they had worked it out together!

AUSTRALIA should debate going nuclear and Victoria should be prepared to host nuclear power stations, former state energy minister Theo Theophanous said yesterday.

In a dramatic final speech to Parliament, the retiring Labor heavyweight called on Kevin Rudd to lead a national debate on nuclear power.

Mr Theophanous said Australia could not afford to put all its eggs in the ”clean coal” basket because the ”Holy Grail” of storing carbon underground might never be viable.

”If the Prime Minister is true to his word that climate change is the moral challenge of our generation, then nuclear energy as a form of base-load power will probably have a role to play in addressing it,” he said.

”My prediction is that a mix of clean coal, renewable energy, energy conservation and nuclear power will all have a role to play in the future.” (source)

A very sensible conclusion, although he omits to acknowledge that coal (clean or otherwise) is the backbone of Australia’s energy supply. We will have to rely on it for many years to come, if we don’t want to return to the Dark Ages.