Nuclear power a feasible solution to climate change: PM

energy

Prime Minister John Howard has outlined the Government's plan to develop a nuclear power industry in Australia.

Mr Howard has told the Victorian Liberal Party conference that the country needs to reassess its energy production in the face of climate change.

He says Australia's only feasible options are clean coal technology and nuclear power.

"Part of the solution must be to admit the use, in years to come, of nuclear power," he said.

He is planning to invest in research for a nuclear power industry and change legislative bans.

Mr Howard will face a battle not only with the Opposition and green groups, but his own party.

Victorian backbencher Russel Broadbent has already flatly rejected the plan and the Australian Labor Party (ALP) says nuclear power is not the answer.

The Victorian Government has also rejected the plan.

Energy Minister Peter Batchelor says nuclear power stations and waste dumps have been banned from Victoria since the 1980s.

"In Victoria, we've got abundant supplies of brown coal, we're working to make the production of electricity from brown coal cleaner with massive cuts to carbon dioxide emissions," he said.

"We're also supporting renewable energy such as wind, solar, geothermal and we see no place for nuclear power in the future of Victoria."

The Wilderness Society's campaigns director, Alec Marr, says Mr Howard should concentrate on safe ways to deal with climate change, instead of creating a new environmental problem in nuclear waste.

"He doesn't believe climate change is a real issue and he has no intention of doing anything about it," he said.

"There's 100 things he could be doing right now if he was serious, round energy efficiency and promoting renewable energy."
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