Extinction Rebellion to climate champion: Zion Lights explains why nuclear power is our answer

A former key official in the Extinction Rebellion movement has revealed why she’s turning her back on its doomsday messages to back nuclear power.

A former key official in radical environmental movement Extinction Rebellion is turning her back on its doomsday messages and urging a global embrace of nuclear power as the “silver bullet” for reliable, clean energy.

United Kingdom author and activist Zion Lights, a former Extinction Rebellion UK spokesperson, says zero-emission nuclear power can mitigate the climate emergency and meet rapidly growing energy demand – without sacrificing living standards.

Ms Lights quit the global environmental group in September last year, accusing it of peddling “messages of doomsday gloom that alienate” and offering “little in the way of positive solutions”.

In an exclusive interview with Sky News, Ms Lights said the more she studies research the more she realises nuclear “is the biggest solution”, not just for clean energy but for hauling billions out of poverty.

“Nuclear energy is clean, it’s reliable and if we embrace it now, we can combat climate change and benefit generations to come,” she told Chris Kenny for his Going Nuclear – The Clean Energy Debate special.

Extinction Rebellion activist to climate champion, meet Zion Lights. Picture: Supplied

Ms Lights said she is baffled why Australia, as one of the world’s largest uranium exporters, has not solved climate change issues overnight by building “a ton of nuclear reactors”.

“You could have abundant energy and energy independence and not rely on anybody. You could be a world leader in showing how things are done,” she said.

Zion Lights in Sky News Australia’s new documentary. Picture: Supplied

“If you really want to stick it to the boomer environmentalists that are telling us all to live with less, you could show them how you can create a decarbonised future that still gives everybody abundant energy, high quality of life – but just isn’t causing climate change.

“ … You invest in nuclear power stations, your children will see the benefits for decades to come. These are all really good things, if we can shift the thinking in that direction. I think people will come to realise it eventually.”

Zion Lights pictured here with her children. Picture: Supplied

Citing a United Nations report showing 40 per cent of people in some developing countries will not have access to water in the next decade, she urges nuclear-powered desalination.

“You turn sea water into drinking water. But guess what it needs? Huge amounts of energy that these countries do not have access to,” she said.

“So, if they’re not going to have fossil fuels, they have to have something, and nuclear is the silver bullet in this scenario.”

More from Sky News Australia’s doco on going nuclear. Picture: Supplied

From Extinction Rebellion activist to climate champion - Zion Lights. Picture: Supplied

Ms Lights said people in advanced countries take for granted that they can flick a switch to power lights, phones and laptops but these are craved by those in developing nations.

“We have to find a way of doing this rather than just saying that they should now live with less because we polluted the planet, and that’s the only option for them,” she said.

“I used to be in that kind of camp saying: ‘We should all use less,’ but, actually, let’s be honest, where has that gotten us?

“For decades, it’s gotten us nowhere. It hasn’t happened. Behavioural scientists have not found a way to make people magically to have a huge reduction in how much energy they use.”

Ms Lights argues reducing emissions means increasing electricity use, to transfer transport and heating from fossil fuel power.

Going Nuclear: The Clean Energy Debate hosted by Chris Kenny airs on Monday October 25 at 8pm AEDT on Sky News Australia.