Greens' ire and Howard's nuclear future

Australian Greens leader Bob Brown says the Federal Government should be exploring renewable energy resources before committing to nuclear power.

In an announcement timed to coincide with the Australian Labor Party's (ALP) debate on uranium mining, Prime Minister John Howard has outlined the Government's plans to develop a nuclear power industry.

Mr Howard told the Victorian Liberal Party conference that the country needs to reassess its energy production in the face of climate change, and the only feasible options are clean coal technology and nuclear power.

But Greens Senator Bob Brown accused Mr Howard of not knowing what he was doing.

"John Howard's going whole hog isn't he?" he said.

"He can't tackle climate change without a nuclear mentality.

"He's lost the plot as far as the much better energy efficiency, renewable energy resources demand management that would put Australia at the front of the pack instead of at the back."

Mr Howard says nuclear and clean coal technologies are the best ways to tackle climate change.

"You can not run power stations on wind or solar power," he said.

"If we're fair dinkum about this climate change debate we have to open our minds to the use of nuclear power."

Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane says the Government will remove legislative barriers to nuclear power.

But he says nuclear power plants will not be built if nuclear power is rejected by the Australian public, and that it would take more than a decade before a nuclear power station could be up and running.

"Between planning and construction, at least 10 years would expire, so we're probably talking about a debate of a few years, followed by a decision and the first electrons coming out of a power station no earlier than 2020 - but let's have the debate first," he said.

"There will be no movement towards the establishment of a power station in Australia until Australia has debated where nuclear energy fits in its low emission future.

"On the basis of that debate, we'll then decide whether or not a nuclear station is going to be built."

Mr Macfarlane says the energy debate has moved beyond the ALP's wrangling over uranium mining.

"Labor today is debating last century's policy," he said.