Going nuclear

I'm not overly for or against nuclear power. It may well be a vital part of the Australian response to climate change. However, maybe it's nonviable. Maybe novel renewable technologies will be sufficient. Maybe clean coal technology will provide cheaper and safer energy.

But when I read the following interview featuring Hugh Morgan, one of a triumvirate of businessman trying to kick-start the nuclear industry in Australia, I sort of felt...well....like I really hope they fail.

Jon Faine: Have you seen Al Gore’s film?

Hugh Morgan: (clears throat) I have.

JF: What did you think of An Inconvenient Truth?

HM: I thought the whole thing was a Hollywood beat-up of monumental proportions.

JF: Do you believe in global warming?

HM: Ah, I believe that there’s been climate change.

JF: Because of?

HM: Ah, maybe part of anthropological issues but because ah, there are other explanations for which many people have not been prepared to turn their minds to.

JF: But you’re still prepared to talk about nuclear power as a cheap alternative because of climate change, although you’re not sure it’s in fact, the climate change phenomenon that this nuclear industry would be based upon is caused by…

HM: Yes I’m very relaxed about this.

JF: … the very things you’d exploit to create this new industry?

HM: Sure. In other words … The practicality of this is that the community mood is going to demand higher energy cost. That’s a fact. It doesn’t matter whether it’s based on fact, the fact of life is this is what the community is demanding.

JF: So a complete mistake being made by the bulk of the population around the world at the moment to link global warming with greenhouse gas emissions is something you’ll cheerfully exploit to create a nuclear power industry?

HM: Not at all. If that’s what the community wants, I’m there to help them.

JF: Even if they’re wrong?

HM: Well that’s happened a lot in the past, we’ve had many occasions when the community has gone in a particular direction and actually hasn’t got its assessment right on many issues but that’s not the point … I think that the community needs to make sure it has a basket of options about its power sources. It would be wrong to dismiss the nuclear option from its basket of commitments to ensure that the community has a regular, reliable supply of electricity.

From today's Crikey

Anyway, I'm off travelling over Easter. Catch ya afterward with some (hopefully) nice piccies of the Flinder's Ranges and surrounds for the photoblog.

Happy Easter!!!