Pragmatism on nuclear about energy affordability

Chris Uhlmann is correct on two counts (“Nuclear will rise on rubble of failed policy”, 21-22/12). Nuclear power will inevitably be used in Australia but only after considerable damage has been wrought on us from Labor’s obsession with renewable energy. Already the economy, industrial investment, productivity and living standards are either flat or in decline so even under a Dutton government it will take time to reform and restore balance and integrity to the power grid and get electricity back to levels of affordability. The alternative scenario, however, of a future Labor-Greens coalition is scary to contemplate, especially considering the US is returning to energy pragmatism.

Ron Hobba, Camberwell, Vic

I’m afraid Johannes Leak’s cartoon in The Weekend Australia is a very real and easily exploited sentiment within the community (“Nuclear power – be afraid; be very afraid”, 21-22/12). To its supporters, nuclear energy is a benign force; to the naysayers, it’s an apocalyptic health and environmental threat.

It will be one thing to rescind the legislation that prohibits the use of nuclear energy but a gargantuan task to bring the community along for the very reasons parodied by Leak.

Terry Walmsley, Benowa, Qld

Johannes Leak’s hilarious cartoon, with its three-headed green ALP luminaries, has a serious side in that it highlights some of the more ridiculous claims made about nuclear power. As Alex Coram points out in The Weekend Australian, serious analysis, not DIY economics, is needed. But there is no need to start from scratch: nuclear power has been used for some 70 years. Its users have a wealth of experience and if we don’t know something, we can ask a friend. The same goes for building a plant. We can buy in expertise to help with the build. Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen should tell the voters the cost, including environmental damage, of their grandiose schemes.

Doug Hurst, Chapman, ACT

No doubt election year 2025 will be dominated by a scare campaign against nuclear-powered electricity, especially now Peter Dutton has revealed the Coalition’s strategy. Predictably, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl will be highlighted as how dangerous nuclear will be to the communities. To bring up decades-old accidents, knowing lessons learned from each have advanced nuclear safety light years, shows the desperation of the anti-nuclear lobby.

Bruce Collison, Banks, ACT

It makes good sense that Chris Uhlmann consults with academics like emeritus professor Alex Coram on the best way forward regarding Australia’s energy mix. But in his accompanying piece, Coram uses language that’s surprising for an academic (“Transition calls for serious analysis, not DIY economics”, 21-22/12). For example, Coram writes “it is bordering on silly to claim that a weather-dependent system will be cheaper than one with some nuclear energy”. But can Coram provide evidence for this statement other than Frontier Economics?

Ray Peck, Hawthorn, Vic

Chris Uhlmann is right. Eventually the sun will set on the renewables fantasy, nuclear will rise, and future generations will wonder “what went so wrong?”. The scientific answer is commonly ignored. By around 2000, it was clear that the world was turning against carbon dioxide emissions. Fossil fuels were in trouble. Power generation would need to switch to clean energy sources.

Energy technologists and engineers knew there was a simple solution available. Each big coal-fired generator could be replaced, gigawatt for gigawatt, by a big clean nuclear one. Just substitute nuclear fuel rods for coal and keep the water boiling.

Nothing else need change. Of course, Australia had a particular problem; there were laws banning nuclear power. Even where it was legal and already in use it wasn’t necessarily popular. Anti-nuclearism still had a global cultural influence.

In the end the storage needed to run a reliable electricity grid on intermittent renewables can never match the storage that comes with true fuels. That’s the point where renewables plans are destined to stumble. Elegance ends, feasibility disappears, the sun sets.

Tom Biegler, St Kilda East, Vic