There is a case for considering zero emissions nuclear power but as part of a technology-neutral energy approach to generating reliable baseload power and firmed wind and solar generation.
Whatever else, Peter Dutton’s uncosted plan to build government-owned nuclear reactors on the sites of seven coal-fired power plants scattered across every mainland state is a huge political gamble. Get set for the mother of all NIMBY scare campaigns about house prices, waste storage and China Syndrome accidents.
There is a case for considering zero emissions nuclear power to help with the decades-long challenge of decarbonising Australia’s fossil-fuel-intensive economy as part of a technology-neutral energy approach to generating reliable baseload power and firmed wind and solar generation. But the Coalition’s nuclear option is driven more by a return to the climate wars with an atomic twist.
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The Australian Financial Review’s succinct take on the principles at stake in major domestic and global stories – and what policy makers should do about them.
