Nuclear power debate tops PM's list - National - smh.com.au

ANTI-NUCLEAR energy groups are bracing for action, with the Prime Minister, John Howard, expected to seize the initiative on the nuclear power debate when he returns from overseas this week.

"We do need to have a debate about it," he said yesterday.

Mr Howard is expected to commission a study into nuclear power and said he would be moving soon after he returns on Thursday.

During his overseas trip, Mr Howard has turned up the rhetoric on nuclear power, portraying it as a solution to greenhouse gas emissions and rising energy costs.

He denied yesterday he was using nuclear power as a tool to divide the Labor Party, which is grappling with whether to abolish its no-new-mines policy regarding uranium.

"We need proper examination and testing and assessment."

However, he then accused the Labor leader, Kim Beazley, of being incapable of participating in the process. "If you wait until he comes out with a clear position on something, it will be a long time before we have a full debate."

Mr Beazley opposes a nuclear power industry, saying Australia has adequate coal and gas resources and should be pursuing less controversial, alternative energy sources.

Mr Howard said last week that if nuclear power were adopted, it would make more sense for Australia to make its own nuclear fuel rather than send uranium overseas to be converted into fuel rods and then imported back.

Claiming there was a shift in public opinion towards nuclear power, Mr Howard said it was "cleaner and greener than other forms of power".

Anti-nuclear energy groups say converting all coal-generated power to nuclear would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by only 5 per cent.

Some of the groups have warned the Government that it faces a huge national campaign if it proceeds with plans to expand Australia's role in nuclear power.

Dr Gillian Deakin, vice-president of the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, said issues that had been highlighted in past campaigns - including the aeons it takes for nuclear waste to become safe - had not gone away.

"We oppose expansion of the nuclear power industry on the precautionary principle that if you cannot guarantee something is safe, you don't use it," she said.

Murray Hansen, from the office of the federal Minister for Education and Science, Julie Bishop, said Ms Bishop was setting up a panel of experts to get a better factual basis for making decisions on the issues.

Mr Howard said the decision to go nuclear would ultimately be governed "by the laws of arithmetic and economics".

■ China's rapid economic growth and embrace of capitalism would eventually result in a "tectonic shift" towards democracy, Mr Howard said last night.

Speaking to staff and students at Dublin University, Mr Howard said China was still an authoritarian state but that would not last forever.

Asked about China's human rights, Mr Howard said he did not believe China was "marching towards democracy" now but there would be change eventually. "I think eventually there will be some kind of tectonic shift and I believe that very strongly," he said.

In response to another question, the Prime Minister described the push for gay marriage as "a form of minority fundamentalism".