Bullying your way to nuclear power might play out well in the Coalition party room, but it’s unlikely to win favour with the states or voters, writes Jim Green.
Jim Green
Pro-nuclear pundits are using push-polling tricks to sway opinions which include biased preliminary comments, biased questions, limited response options and misreporting the findings. Jim Green reports.
Massive cost blowouts and multi-year delays have stymied the construction of small nuclear reactors, yet their proponents keep pushing the idea. Jim Green reports.
Arabunna Elder Uncle Kevin Buzzacott passed away in Alice Springs on November 29, 2023. A fierce advocate for his people and for a nuclear-free Australia, Kevin will be sorely missed, writes Jim Green.
Several nuclear facilities in Ukraine have been attacked by the Russian military over the past fortnight — a nuclear research facility, two radioactive waste storage sites, the Chernobyl nuclear site, and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, reports Jim Green.
Nuclear power is prohibited in Australia, but a review is underway and the nuclear industry wants the ban removed. Jim Green argues laws banning nuclear power have served the country well and must be retained.
Nuclear power is currently enjoying a flurry of interest in Australia. But those promoting nuclear power are almost exclusively from the far right of the political spectrum, writes Jim Green.
Last November, two-thirds of the 350 members of a South Australian-government initiated Citizens' Jury rejected "under any circumstances" the plan to import high-level nuclear waste from around the world as a money-making venture.
The appointment of nuclear power advocate Alan Finkel as Australia's next Chief Scientist led to speculation that the federal government might be softening up Australians for the introduction of nuclear power.
But that speculation is likely misplaced. Finkel is not the first Chief Scientist to support nuclear power. It goes with the turf: boys like toys and Chief Scientists like nuclear power. Finkel's comments were actually quite nuanced and at least as supportive of renewables as nuclear power.
Ten years ago, the uranium price was on an upward swing. South Australians were dazzled by the prospect of becoming the 'Saudi Arabia of the South' because of the state's large uranium deposits and the prospect of a global nuclear power renaissance.
Those comparisons didn't stand up to a moment's scrutiny — Australia would need to supply global uranium demand 31 times over to match Saudi oil revenue.
Former prime minister Bob Hawke is urging Australia to become the world's nuclear waste dump. But he has little hope of succeeding.
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