urg::: Downer espouses nuclear power

[Len Kanaar - FoE Sydney]

News Limited

Downer espouses nuclear virtues
By Denis Peters
01-09-2005
From: AAP

FOREIGN Minister Alexander Downer has laid out the case for Australia 
taking the path to nuclear power generation, saying global warming is 
forcing a rethink on the issue.

He joins fellow Cabinet minister Dr Brendan Nelson among government 
members espousing the benefits of nuclear energy since Prime Minister 
John Howard called for a renewed debate on the issue.

Mr Downer said Australia's substantial uranium exports were already 
being used to generate 2 per cent of the world's electricity 
production, making Australia deeply entwined in nuclear energy, 
particularly in the east Asian region.

Heavily coal-dependent, Australia has no electricity generation 
through nuclear power.

Its only reactor, at Lucas Heights, is used for purposes such as 
sub-atomic research, the production of radioactive medicines for 
cancer therapy, and production of radioisotopes for industrial uses.

But Australia held the world's largest uranium reserves, enabling the 
country to make a major contribution to global energy production, Mr 
Downer said

"The plain reality is that the growing demand for energy worldwide, 
and in our own region, will be satisfied in part by nuclear power 
generation," he said during the 2005 Sir Condor Laucke Oration at the 
Barossa Valley.

"In the 21st century, the responsible position is to recognise that 
nuclear power has an important place in the overall global energy 
mix."

Mr Downer urged those confronting global environmental challenges to 
"avoid pseudo-science and doomsday scenarios".

"Nuclear power's clear benefits in greenhouse terms are causing many 
countries to reconsider some outdated prejudices," he said.

"The reality is that nuclear energy is the only established 
non-fossil fuel energy source capable of generating large amounts of 
baseload electricity without significant emissions of carbon dioxide."

Mr Downer said Australia's uranium exports allowed other countries to 
reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.

"Countries using Australian uranium avoid CO2 emissions of the same 
magnitude as Australia's own CO2 emissions from all sources," he said.

Safety concerns about nuclear power were inaccurate perceptions of 
risks that were not backed up by facts, Mr Downer said..

"Anti-nuclear groups irresponsibly exploit these concerns to pursue 
their own mythology."

Mr Downer said Australia would have a vital role to play with regard 
to the future of global nuclear power.

"As global demand for greenhouse-friendly nuclear power grows, global 
demand for uranium will also grow," he said.

"And as the holder of the world's largest uranium reserves, we have a 
responsibility to supply clean energy to other countries - even if, 
so far, we have chosen not to use nuclear energy ourselves."


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