After his disingenuous call in May this year for "a debate about nuclear energy", John Howard has now proclaimed that he thinks that Australia must embrace nuclear power (Age 17/10). The so-called debate now seems to be over before it has even really started.
Little wonder people become cynical when politicians hijack a vitally important issue like energy policy and avoid effective consultation with the broader community.
Even before Ziggy Switkowski's report on nuclear energy is published, Alexander Downer and Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane have both endorsed nuclear energy. How can they do this without the facts? Where is the companion report into long-term renewable energy options to balance the pro-nuclear report coming? This is a clear abrogation of political, democratic and scientific process.
We need to know what all the options and costs are. The huge government subsidies for electricity produced from burning coal need to be revealed. We need to know the real costs in constructing nuclear power stations. Uranium is another non-renewable resource - we need to know accurate predictions on how long it will last. We need to know how much water nuclear power stations need to operate - noting that we now face ongoing severe drought.
We need to know where proposed nuclear power stations will be sited, and where the waste will be stored. Do we really want to turn Australia into a nuclear waste dump? Do we want to expose ourselves to the risk of potentially catastrophic nuclear accidents?
No government has a mandate for unilateral action on such serious matters. We need a referendum to allow everyone to participate in the decision making process.
We have twenty solar panels on our house; we produce two thirds of the power we consume, and we provide power to the grid during peak usage times such as very hot days. This technology is genuinely renewable, available now, and a lot cheaper than building new power stations. It is a dereliction of duty for our politicians to ignore it.
Link: Nuclear power: the switch is on
2 comments:
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.
Moreover nuclear power does not actually reduce C02 emmissions.
Hi Peter,
Sorry to contact you by leaving a comment but I couldn't find an email address.
I’m looking for people who are passionate about the environment to join my blog at Real Life News.
I wondered if you might be interested or if you could let your readers know in case any of them would like to contribute.
Real Life News has been running since February and is building communities of bloggers around key subjects. We started with football then I launched the environment blog in August.
The focus of my writing has been about moving towards a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. It would be great to complement this with other writers who have an interest or experience in different areas– from scientific work to green politics, endangered species to alternative technologies.
I’d be really grateful if you could let your readers know about this – they can get in touch through the Contact Us page on Real Life News.
Many thanks
David
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