Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Nuclear energy - a game changer?

By Phil Sawyer - posted Friday, 23 July 2010


The Government has an urgent need for a credible climate and energy policy to take to the election. Prime Minister Julia Gillard's call for an eventual consensus on an Emissions Trading Scheme is not going to be enough to re-establish credibility with that slab of the electorate, who, rightly or wrongly, want action on climate change and energy. The polls show the Greens taking primary votes from Labor on the issue.

The government urgently needs a circuit breaker, so as to put this issue to bed before the election. But how to clear the decks in one dramatic announcement?

I believe there is an elegantly simple solution. Put simply, the PM should make spectacular use of the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) to play the nuclear card!

Advertisement

The key policy decision, the game-changer for the campaign, from which the whole energy and climate strategy could then flow, involves a simple declaration that the MRET legislation will be changed to recognise nuclear energy as a carbon-free source of power! The measure is simple, unambiguous, and costless. But with big implications, and possibilities.

At a stroke this announcement would change the whole debate. If windmills and hot rocks can't compete with nuclear, so be it. But we certainly need to find out.

This policy change is not, in itself, an endorsement of nuclear energy.

No commitment to nuclear energy needs to be given, save that the market will determine the eventual outcome. But it will also signal that nuclear energy should be allowed to compete, on its own merits, with anything the renewable energy industry can come up with. This position should be easy to justify and defend.

The current MRET scheme, which is slated to achieve 20 per cent renewables by 2020, should also be extended to cover the years to 2050, rising to 30 per cent by 2030 and 40 per cent by 2040, etc, as part of the establishment of a broader long term national emissions mitigation strategy.

This, or some such, "reduced emissions trajectory", would then provide an internationally credible and practically achievable way of mitigating our future emissions, without resorting to an ETS, by virtue of a growing nuclear and renewable sector over the decades ahead. Simple. The bipartisan legislation is already there! It’s too good an opportunity to miss.

Advertisement

Everyone is aware that the cabinet and caucus already have a number of nuclear power advocates, who have hitherto been remarkably constrained. So does important parts of the union movement, who have not been so constrained.

The PM should take the initiative on this, while there is time before the election, because it presents a great opportunity to profit electorally, by means of clawing back a swag of green primary votes.

This is because many green voters believe nuclear should be in the energy mix, such is their heightened sense of urgency regarding the need for action. People like the doyen of alarmists, James Hansen, and the Gaia Guru, Lovelock, are very influential, and very pro-nuclear too. If the major parties present an alternative, these people will not vote for the anti nuclear greens. And they will move back to the ALP, rather than to the opposition. Many pro-nuclear people are also global warming sceptics. Their opposition to action on climate change would be expected to disappear if nuclear was on the table.

Glenn Milne reported in The Australian that shadow minister Greg Hunt, in a recent speech to the Business Council of Australia about nuclear policy, said that "a model for discussion is on the table", and expressed a desire to "sit down and negotiate a consensus on the issue". This is a serious offer by the opposition, and should be taken up.

If the PM actually wants a consensus on climate action then nuclear is the only way to do it. Any non-nuclear solution to achieving significant cuts in emissions will never get a consensus in Australia because too many people know that attempting it with windmills, solar thermal and hot rocks etc would simply trash our economy, and is entirely unrealistic. This group includes the big end of town. Remember them?

Nuclear is the only alternative that allows for our natural growth to continue, while still having an impact on future emissions in a substantial way.

That leaves the diehard anti-nuclear vote out on their own. Big deal! This constituency is largely greenish-left, and would never vote for Tony Abbott anyway.

By playing the MRET nuclear card, the government will have succeeded in quickly clearing the air, so as to sell its other messages of the campaign, and the national interest will be served, albeit as the bastard child of political expediency.

It is also worthwhile to reflect on what might happen if the PM decides against playing the MRET nuclear card, and the opposition comes out with it instead!

Abbott gets an arguably credible energy and climate policy, which he doesn't have at the moment, and the PM will have the dilemma of either agreeing with the opposition, or sticking with the die-hard anti-nuclear vote. Not an ideal situation. The ALP would be totally skewered. And deservedly so. A big risk, in my view.

The PM should also announce that Australia will apply to join the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) consortium.

This will serve to demonstrate that any nuclear rollout Australia might undertake is for one generation only, so as to play our part in meeting the low-carbon challenge. And by the time they are ready to be retired, we will have nuclear fusion, or generation 4 nuclear on tap. Or something better that hasn't been invented yet!

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. All


Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

47 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Phil Sawyer is a retired fisherman and abalone diver from Portland, Victoria. He is a former ALP candidate for Wannon (1990) and the producer/director of the TV documentary In Flinders Wake (which was primarily a critique of environmentalism, from a social democrats point of view). His home town is Port Lincoln, and he has a BSc from Adelaide University.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Article Tools
Comment 47 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy