Howard tight-lipped on nuclear inquiry boss. 05/06/2006. ABC News Online


Prime Minister John Howard has declined to reveal details about who will conduct his inquiry into nuclear power.
Tomorrow's federal Cabinet meeting will give formal approval to a debate on the economics of nuclear power.
Mr Howard says the review will investigate whether nuclear power can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But he says he will not reveal more details until after Cabinet meets.
"I'll be talking to my colleagues about this tomorrow," he said.
"And we are going to have an inquiry, which will include a lot of experts and it will also include a provision for peer review of the conclusions that are reached by the experts."
Nuclear sites
Federal Opposition Deputy Leader Jenny Macklin has called on the Government to come clean over where it plans to build nuclear power stations.
But Mr Howard says he will not talk about possible sites for nuclear power plants in Australia until an inquiry is complete.
"I know there is going to be a fear campaign and people are going to be running around saying rule out this site, rule out that site," he said.
"It's quite premature to be talking about sites and in the end if there's private sector investment in power stations, if they do come about, then obviously the private sector investors will have a little bit to say in relation to site."
ANSTO report
Australia's nuclear science body, ANSTO, says if Australia wants nuclear energy it will need to build four or five plants.
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation has released a report that says nuclear power could be price competitive with coal-generated electricity.
But the Opposition's environment spokesman Anthony Albanese says the Government has not been helped by the release of the report.
"Once you actually examine and focus attention on nuclear energy, it simply doesn't stack up," he said.
"They've released a report now from ANSTO into the economics of nuclear energy, which excludes very specifically the costs of both waste disposal and the cost of decommissioning the plants.
"And they've taken into account the need for public subsidies or complete public support for insurance of the industry - it's a bit like ordering a meat pie and asking for the cost if you exclude the meat and the pastry."
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