The scenario painted here, of Australia's squillion dollar industry of importing radioactive wastes, and exporting uranium and processed nuclear fuel, assumes that the world will rapidly develop conventional nuclear reactors. But the rationale for the Small Modular Reactors, and all their reprocessing relatives Integral Fast Reactors Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors, is that they are safer than the large "conventional" reactors.
So the whole plan still promotes those less safe reactors!
The plan purports to reduce greenhouse emissions by means of thousands of little reactors, (and big ones) - but their development is so many decades away that it would be too late for climate change action.
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We are left with a plan that looks suspiciously as if the troubled nuclear industries of USA, Canada and UK have selected Australia as the guinea pig for a plan to reverse their industries' present decline.
It is a worry that the South Australian Government is looking to Canada to take part in the Royal Commission. If ever there were a troubled nuclear industry, it is in Canada. The World Bank's Corrupt Companies Blacklist is Dominated By Canada, because of one company, SNC Lavalin, - exporter of small nuclear reactors.
The most recent case for the nuclear industry in Australia is also promoted by South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill, Professor Ian Plimer , by Dr Ziggy Switkowski , and others.
An imported pronuclear publicist is Dr Tim Stone, from Britain. He works for The Office for Nuclear Development (OND), which'focuses on removing potential barriers to investment, and signals clearly to the industry the serious intent of the Government to push forward nuclear new build'
Dr Stone will be speaking at various events, along with well-known Australian nuclear industry promoters, Ben Heard, Ian Hore-Lacey, Dr Nigel Long.
The nuclear publicity blitz has been pretty much confined to South Australia. But it really is a national issue.
Well, good on the ABC for giving it a national airing, and good on Oscar Archer for spelling out that sequence – providing much food for thought indeed.
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