Sunday, September 27, 2009

Nuclear Advantage (2)

Letter to the Editor #9, "The Independent Weekly" (Adelaide)
27 Sept 2009, (194 words).
by Allan Taylor of Hove.

The professor of climate change at Adelaide University, Barry Brook, is promoting nuclear power in Australia, and so too is Ziggy Switkowski, chairman of the Australian Nuclear and Science Technology Association.

However, Premier Mike Rann maintains his opposition to a nuclear plant in SA, but encourages the expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium mine to produce uranium for export. Both State and Federal Labor are promoting renewable energy for our future and seem not at all interested in the nuclear option.

Labor’s recently passed Renewable Energy Target bill specifies 20% electricity being generated from renewables by 2020. Both Ziggy and Prof. Brook say that this is impossible and suggest the alternative of nuclear power with no greenhouse gas emissions.

It would be more sensible to develop nuclear power in SA rather than waste money on unnecessary and expensive renewable energy (wind, solar and geothermal). Prof Brook also says that there is no evidence to show that existing wind farms in SA have caused any reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Top priority in any energy plan is security of supply. The optimum mix is most likely one third each of electricity supplied from coal, gas and nuclear sources.
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