Agence France-Presse reports that Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Monday opened the door to the use of nuclear energy as Australia faces growing pressure to bring down its greenhouse gas emissions. Australia is the third-ranking uranium producer in the world behind Kazakhstan and Canada but does not use nuclear power at present, largely due to its abundance of low-cost coal and natural gas reserves, and community sentiment. But with demands growing for Canberra to announce its climate targets for beyond 2020 at global talks in France late next year, Abbott said he was open to the idea. On nuclear energy, as I have said on many occasions, but who also recently called coal - good for humanity - and once said climate change science was - absolute crap. Australia is among the world worst per capita polluters due to its reliance on coal-fired power and coal-mining exports.
Canberra has so far committed to reducing emissions to 5.0 percent below 2000 levels by 2020. Environmentalists say it ought to target 15 percent. A reopening of the nuclear debate in Australia comes after the United States and China the two biggest polluters announced a surprise deal last month to ramp up their efforts to combat climate change which involves shutting down coal-fired power plants. Abbott acknowledged that nuclear power was an important part of the energy mix in many countries, pointing to Japan and France. So I have no theological objection to nuclear energy, and if we are to dramatically reduce emissions, we have to remember that the one absolutely proven way of generating emissions-free base load power is through nuclear power, he actually said. It has never really been an option for Australia up till now because Australia does not have the energy shortages that other countries do. They have hundreds of years of reserves of coal, hundreds of years of reserves of natural gas, and plenty of uranium resources available in Australia, which is incredibly fortunate for Australians.
Original URL: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/international/australia-opens-door-nuclear-energy/
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