Hmmm ... "Australia had a staggering $18.7 billion trade deficit in 2005 and our uranium exports are worth $475.1 million ... and about half as much as our cheese exports."
Labor's uranium policy gets the balance right By Anthony Albanese MP Wednesday 2 August 2006 The Courier Mail p33
URANIUM is the essential ingredient for nuclear power stations and nuclear weapons, and nuclear waste remains extremely toxic for tens of thousands of years.
The nuclear fuel cycle has intractable problems and it is not the answer to the threat of climate change.
We can guarantee uranium mining will create nuclear waste, but we can't guarantee it won't create nuclear weapons.
After 60 years of well funded research, the nuclear industry has not solved its outstanding issues: high cost, safety issues, toxic waste and weapons proliferation.
Don't just take my word for it. In July 2004, the Howard Government released its Energy White Paper. On page 135, under the heading "Climate Change and Energy'', it states:
"Use of uranium reserves raises cost, safety and waste disposal issues in power generation and Australia is not contemplating the use of nuclear power.''
Former US vice president Al Gore said recently, "for eight years in the White House, every weapons-proliferation problem we dealt with was connected to a civilian reactor program''.
The increasing threat of terrorism means we should not be getting further into the nuclear fuel cycle. During the Cold War, we worried about countries with nuclear programs, now we have to worry about states, terrorist organisations and individuals -- and the threats they potentially represent.
We must carefully weigh uranium's significant inherent dangers, against the moderate economic benefits Australia gets from expanding uranium mines.
Increasing our exports of uranium would make only a small dent in our foreign debt crisis, but would leave a large legacy of nuclear waste and proliferation.
Australia had a staggering $18.7 billion trade deficit in 2005 and our uranium exports are worth $475.1 million -- the same as manganese ore and about half as much as our cheese exports. Even if we doubled uranium exports, it would still be about an eighth of what we get from iron ore.
The focus on the economic returns of uranium mining is not rational, but ideological. Much of the push to remove restrictions on uranium mining is driven by the idea that environmental and social implications of economic activity should be ignored.
Labor's existing uranium policy gets the balance right: providing economic certainty by not repudiating existing mining contracts, while not opening new mines and increasing the risks of the nuclear fuel cycle.
Nuclear energy is not a serious option for Australia's contribution to the global effort to avoid dangerous climate change.
The fact is if the global use of nuclear energy doubled we would use all known reserves of uranium in 25 years. We would achieve emissions reductions of only another 5 per cent, compared with the 60 per cent reduction that is required to avoid dangerous climate change.
The Howard Government's complacency has seen Australia's greenhouse gas emissions rise. When land use changes, particularly those of the Beattie Labor Government, are excluded, that rise is a disastrous 25.1 per cent between 1990 and 2004.
The Prime Minister is now playing catch-up politics. He is desperately promoting nuclear power for Australia to pretend he is doing something about climate change, an issue he has ignored for a decade.
Climate change is a challenge, but also an opportunity. An opportunity to protect our environment and to strengthen the economy through efficiency and sustainability. With the right investments in solar and wind power, clean coal and gas technology, Australia can generate massive export income from the emerging trillion-dollar renewable energy industry.
Premier Peter Beattie has been right in emphasising the importance of clean coal technology being developed for Queensland's future export earnings.
In our efforts to avoid climate change we have a responsibility to find solutions, not just create new problems for future generations.
Uranium mining solves none of Australia's pressing challenges. It does little for our soaring foreign debt, it doesn't cut our spiralling greenhouse pollution and it could make us a lot less safe.
Given the problems of cost, safety, waste and proliferation, Australians are right to be cautious with expanding uranium mining or any further involvement in the nuclear fuel cycle.
Anthony Albanese is Labor's federal spokesman on environment, heritage and water. **********************************************************************************
