Oliver Milman reports that the nuclear industry will lobby for nuclear energy in Australia, saying the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, should embrace the technology as a way to slash greenhouse gas emissions.
The Australian Nuclear Association will accompany Danny Roderick, chief executive of the leading U.S. nuclear technology firm Westinghouse, to talk to government ministers and business leaders in Canberra and Sydney next week. Roderick said nuclear power could help produce clean, reliable, affordable electricity for more people. We would like to help Australia explore ways to create jobs and economic opportunity that are also good for the environment, he said.
The ANA is optimistic that the change in Australia prime ministership will mean nuclear will be looked at on its merits.The ANA says nuclear is a better option to cut emissions from electricity than renewable sources such as solar and wind.
Milman concern is that renewables will get us across the line in terms of emissions reduction, said Rob Parker, the president of the ANA. Nuclear is more reliable and it has a smaller resources footprint than renewables. The move is the latest attempt to overturn legal obstacles to nuclear energy generation in Australia.
Federal environmental law bans building nuclear reactors, and an attempt by the Family First senator, Bob Day, to scrap a separate law that blocks building reactors and uranium enrichment plants was halted in August by the Tony Abbott government.
Australia has nearly a third of the worlds known uranium supplies but there has long been bipartisan political opposition to creating a nuclear industry, although South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, and Northern Territory are pursuing it.
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