What about nuclear power?

Last week I was at the Australian British Chamber of Commerce lunch in Sydney addressed by Marius Kloppers, CEO of BHP Billiton Ltd. 

He surprised the audience and set a cat among the pigeons by advocating Australia take the initiative and lead the world on climate change policy with the introduction of a carbon tax.  He favours this as a simple and effective tax rather than a "difficult to implement" ETS.  The speech and the political and economic ramifications of a carbon tax have been widely reported in the press.

Less widely reported was where he said that Australia needed to look beyond coal to a wider range of power solutions, including geothermal energy, wind power, hydro power and natural gas.  I am curious that nuclear power was not specifically mentioned, and indeed that there is no debate from any side of politics about its merits as an alternative energy source.

In France, over 70% of their power generation is nuclear, with reactors built in densely populated areas without experiencing any serious problems. In the UK nuclear power has been in use since 1956 and accounts for approximately 20% of the nation’s electricity.   Advances in technology and the handling of nuclear waste make it a very clean, safe and economic alternative to coal fired power plants.

I assume that both major political parties know the ferocious emotional campaign that would be waged by the opposing party just by raising the topic, and so there is no intelligent and reasoned debate about it. What will it take for someone to be brave enough to bring it to the spotlight again?

Author - Gary Linton, Managing Director - Prospect Consulting.