Nuclear Power Firmly on Agenda at G8

In a brave and eminently sensible move the South Australian Senator, Ian Campbell noted at the G8 environmental summit that to stand in the way of new nuclear power on ideological grounds was tantamount to "environmental vandalism".

"If it can create energy with zero emissions it has to be on the table," he said.

Regular readers of this blog will recall I have made similar comments.

Nuclear is the only large scale (and relatively cheap) technology with zero carboniferous emissions. The waste is an issue - let's use technology to solve that. The consensus is around deep geological burial.

The amount of radioactive wastes is very small relative to wastes produced by fossil fuel electricity generation.
Safe methods for the final disposal of high-level waste are technically proven; the international consensus is that this should be deep geological disposal (http://www.uic.com.au/nip09.htm)

Looked at another way - China is killing 6,000 miners per year mining thermal coal.

The nuclear power industry under normal operating conditions is clean and less damaging to the environment than coal fired plants. (http://tesla.jcu.edu.au/Schools/Earth/EA1004/Energy/nuclear_energy.html)

I look forward to similar honesty here in New Zealand.