ABC economics guru Alan Kohler says Australia’s nuclear ban ‘makes no sense’ and the energy source could be useful to Australia, even if it isn’t at the moment
“There is nothing particularly wrong with nuclear power, many countries do it, and Australia is happy to sell uranium to them,” Kohler wrote in his column for The New Daily on Thursday.
ABC economics guru Alan Kohler says it’s time to lift Australia’s ‘absurd’ ban on nuclear power
‘Plus it has no CO2 emissions, which is good.’
Kohler traced the nuclear ban to a 1998 deal between the Coalition Howard government and the Greens, which included a trade-off to allow the construction of a nuclear research reactor at Lucas Heights, near Sydney.
“And here we are, still pointlessly arguing a quarter of a century later,” Kohler wrote.
‘Moreover, the discussion has a religious tinge, with evangelists, non-believers and agnostics.’
‘The main reason for Labor to lift the ban, you might think, is that advocating nuclear power is the coalition’s only energy policy; “Without being against the ban, which the Coalition itself has imposed, it would have no policy at all and would have to come up with something sensible,” he explained.
Despite wanting the ban lifted, Kohler believed that nuclear power plants were not currently economically viable.
He joked “there was no danger” of one being built anytime soondespite opposition leader Peter Dutton sticking to the prospect of building small modular reactors.
Kohler said these mini-reactors, which are about the size of a shipping container, have not yet proven commercially viable.
“In November, the U.S. company that developed the world’s most advanced commercial SMR project in Utah, NuScale Power, abandoned the project due to a 70 percent cost increase,” Kohler wrote.
“It’s just not right.”
However, he admitted that the economics on nuclear energy could align in the future and if they did, nuclear energy should be “a business decision, not a political decision.”
Mr Kohler pointed out that many countries use nuclear energy and that it does not produce CO2 emissions
Kohler believed the endless debate over nuclear power was “a distraction from the real work of dealing with climate change and the transition to renewable energy,” including whether there should be a carbon tax.
He said the government could consider subsidizing nuclear power to provide the rest when it comes to renewables, “particularly rooftop solar”, which will provide 80 to 90 percent of Australia’s energy.
“Geothermal, biomass or wave energy are all possible, but a few small modular reactors might also be worth having in the mix as they can operate day and night,” he wrote.
“Nuclear energy can be a small but useful addition to Australia’s electricity generation, but only with some government money behind it.”
Earlier this month, Dutton called the next election a showdown between nuclear and renewable energy as key to reducing Australia’s greenhouse gases.
Mr Dutton told reporters in Adelaide that the renewable energy favored by the Albanian government will struggle to take Australia to the twin goals of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
He said countries similar to Australia are transitioning to nuclear energy.
“We need to have a mature conversation about nuclear energy,” Dutton said.
“It is the latest technology that has zero emissions and can boost renewable energy sources into the system.
Australia’s nuclear ban has been in place since 1988, when it was introduced as part of an agreement between the Coalition Howard government and the Greens.
“There are 20 countries similar to ours … that have a nuclear industry or are committed to one,” Dutton said.
The coalition has begun searching for six potential sites to locate nuclear power and believes that converting decommissioned coal-fired power plants to nuclear power would be a good option.
Mr Dutton has previously argued that nuclear energy was “cheap technology”.
“The nonsense that (Energy Minister) Chris Bowen insists that nuclear power is expensive compared to wind and solar power – it’s a nonsense argument,” Mr Dutton said.
“We need to stick to the facts rather than the emotion on this issue, and we are going to lose industry, there will be smelters and others closed under this government, jobs will go overseas and emissions will go up.” still in the air.
“If we want a situation where we have blackouts, blackouts and rationing, as we see in Germany, then continue to follow the path that the government has set us on.”