Australian philanthropist and entrepreneur Dick Smith has called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to reconsider his opposition to nuclear energy.
While the Liberal Party is open to the creation of a nuclear industry in Australia, Labor and the Greens are firmly opposed, favoring renewable energy sources to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Mr Smith criticized Labor’s position during an interview with Will Shackel, the 17-year-old founder of Australia’s first youth-led campaign for nuclear power.
He believes Mr Albanese’s opposition to nuclear energy is a misguided decision that will negatively impact Australia’s youth.
‘Please look at it objectively because I believe this is the only answer for the future and we need to do something as soon as possible.
“We won’t be there when the problems arise.”
His comments come after Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen previously admitted that to meet the government’s net zero target, Australia would need to install 40 large wind turbines per month and 22,000 solar panels per day.
Meanwhile, Patricia McKenzie, chairman of AGL, the country’s largest coal-fired power station and carbon emitter, has warned that around 98 gigawatts of new capacity is needed to accelerate the closure of coal-fired power stations.
She said new capacity would be needed by 2030 to “keep the lights on”, which would place “unacceptable pressure on energy security and affordability”.
The country has only added about 2.2 GW of capacity in the past five years.
Mr Smith said it was unrealistic to expect renewables could supply all of Australia’s energy as coal was phased out and gas remained a backup source until 2050.
‘I have always thought renewable energy sources are fantastic, but common sense alone told me that you cannot run an entire country entirely on renewable energy sources. If it were, I would support it. But I am absolutely certain that this is not the case.’
‘It’s never been done anywhere in the world, and to be able to do that by having the industry, the transport, the hospitals and everything running continuously, on the wind and the sun. Wonderful if it were possible, but it’s not possible.’
Mr Smith revealed he has a way to resolve the controversial issue of nuclear waste, saying it could be stored at the militarily restricted Olympic Dam mine in northern South Australia.
“You drive into the mine and there are huge caves where they extracted the uranium ore, and we were able to store our waste there completely safely.”
Mr Smith said France uses nuclear power for 70 percent of its electricity and waste is stored in power stations.
‘Are you getting warnings not to go to France? Of course not, it’s a very safe place.’
Mr Smith revealed that it was in fact Labour’s longest-serving Prime Minister Bob Hawke who converted him to the nuclear cause at Kirribilli House on Australia Day 1988.
“Bob Hawke said to me, ‘Dick, you’re against nuclear power,’ and I said no, because I was helping Bob Brown and the bloc and I was known as an environmentalist.”
‘Bob said, “We have to go nuclear, it’s so obvious.”
‘So here it is: the Labor Prime Minister, one of the most famous and best Labor Prime Ministers, telling me that you should support nuclear power.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said nuclear power has the potential to reduce electricity prices and achieve zero carbon emissions.
“You can replace the coal-fired generators with the smaller modular reactors or the larger modular reactors,” he said.
‘The latest technology, no emissions, lower costs and means that you can distribute the energy via the existing electricity grid.
“It means you have the reliability to boost renewables into the system.”
Mr Smith has called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) to reconsider his opposition to nuclear power