Leslie Kemeny's nuclear crusade

ABC reporter Emma Alberici said:

"Professor Leslie Kemeny has been involved in the area of nuclear science for 30 years. That's how long he's been trying to get his technologies commercialised. So far none of his theories have left the drawing board. ... According to the company line Nu-Tec was a serious player with ground-breaking nuclear applications. Noted nuclear physicist Leslie Kemeny was ... the company's ace. The truth, however, was that Nu-Tec was no tech. Its technology didn't exist. Just a few underdeveloped ideas rattling around Professor Kemeny's mind. Some rudimentary paper work and a sales pitch aimed at novice investors. ... None of the institutional investors fell for Gregory Symons's sizzle so the only people burnt were Nu-Tec's small shareholders."

Kemeny's opinion pieces refer to the "pseudo-science" or "coercive utopianism" or "hidden socio-political agendas" of nuclear critics or supporters of "renewable energy" (a term that always appears in quotation marks, for reasons unexplained).

He sometimes lets fly with a conspiracy theory − the same conspiracy theory as that of climate change denier Ian Plimer, two men of the same generation and social cohort. Kemeny writes: "Radical green activism and global terrorism can form dangerous, even deadly, alliances. The 'coercive utopianism' of radical greens, their avid desire for media publicity and their hidden socio-political agendas can produce societal outcomes that are sometimes violent and ugly."

Kemeny believes the anti-nuclear movement is "supported by immense funds from affluent rightwing interests" and that it should be "recognised for what it is − anti-working class activism aimed at maintaining the last "status quo" for a fortunate minority".

Oh please. Kemeny himself has imposing far-right connections. He was pencilled in as the Christian Democratic Party candidate in the 2007 federal election, though he was replaced by another candidate. The Institute of Public Affairs published his 1985 booklet titled 'The peace movement and its hidden agenda'. He has written for Australian Conservative, a "free and open blogging forum for conservatives". He has had numerous articles published by Quadrant (e.g. Pseudo-science and lost opportunities; Radiation phobia and phantom risks; Beyond Radiation Neurosis).

On other occasions Kemeny spares "affluent rightwing interests" but gets stuck into "the strident rhetoric and opportunistic pseudo-science of the political left."

Clive Hamilton's comments about Ian Plimer also seem apt for Kemeny: "The emergence of the environment and peace movements in the 1970s challenged the benefits of nuclear technology, the power of the military-industrial complex and the claims of science to neutrality and benevolence. ... The criticism of the hitherto unquestioned place of science and technology destabilised the power and privilege of the scientific elite."

Hence a cohort of Grumpy Old Men.

Even Kemeny's bio notes raise questions about the precision of his writing. For example one wonders what he means when he says he was "the Australian observer and assessor at Chernobyl". Elsewhere he says his trip to Chernobyl was organised "through the offices of the I.A.E.A." − whatever that means. He describes himself as the Australian foundation member of the International Nuclear Energy Academy − but the Academy is just a lobby group comprised of Grumpy Old Men.