Let's go nuclear, says Science MinisterBy Misha Schubert, Josh...

Let's go nuclear, says Science Minister
By Misha Schubert, Josh Gordon
April 19, 2005

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A senior cabinet minister yesterday called for Australia to become a nuclear power producer, saying the move could slash carbon emissions and fuel water desalination projects.

Lashing out at the "hysteria" of its critics, federal Science Minister Brendan Nelson advocated nuclear power as a solution to global warming.

It generated 16 per cent of the world's electricity and avoided 600 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year, he said.

"Is it not time to consider in the longer term the most obvious power source - nuclear power?" Dr Nelson said.

In a wide-ranging speech broadening his credentials before an anticipated tilt at the Liberal deputy leadership, Dr Nelson backed big business calls to slash the top tax rate, blasted "fundamentalist intolerance" and said every child needed a "stable and loving relationship with at least one adult".

In an extraordinary excursion outside his portfolio just weeks from the federal budget, he warned that the Liberals' greatest challenge would be "a further round of reform" on tax. Personal income tax rates should be slashed from 47 to 30 cents in the dollar. Advocating nuclear energy as a way to cut carbon emissions, Dr Nelson demanded a "reality check" on the double standards of nuclear power critics. Australia already produced 19 per cent of the global uranium market, earning the nation $427 million in 2002-03.

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Advertisement"Some people seem happy to tuck themselves into bed at night comfortable in the knowledge that we earn money from exporting uranium and that it generates power in an environmentally friendly way," he said.

"But they will then man the barricades if any byproducts are to be shipped and stored, let alone be even considered a future fuel source here at home."

A spokeswoman for Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane said there was no need for domestic nuclear power because Australia had coal and natural gas reserves tipped to last up to 300 years.

Dr Nelson's call comes just weeks after new Labor MP Peter Garrett called for a debate on the pros and cons of nuclear energy.

The Australian Conservation Foundation said yesterday nuclear power was not the solution to global warming.

The foundation's energy reform campaigner, Erwin Jackson, said: "It would be foolhardy to place our faith in a nuclear future which generates vast amounts of waste and risks the proliferation of material which can be turned into nuclear weapons."

In his Dame Pattie Menzies Oration, Dr Nelson endorsed Australia's refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol, but said global warming was real and nuclear power could help reduce carbon emissions.

- with Melissa Fyfe


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