New Zealand rejects nuclear power

Jun 14, 2006, 14:13 GMT

Wellington - The New Zealand government, which ordered an inquiry into an eight-hour blackout over half the country's biggest city of Auckland this week, has ruled out developing nuclear energy, a cabinet minister said on Wednesday.

Acting Energy Minister Trevor Mallard said the majority of New Zealanders had rejected nuclear power and remembered international disasters like Chernobyl.

While Australia was considering nuclear-power generation, there was no intention to do the same in New Zealand, he told Radio New Zealand.

Mallard was speaking after the Institution of Professional Engineers called for a nuclear debate, saying the country may be forced to consider its use to meet future energy demands in 20 to 30 years as fossil fuels were depleted.

Monday's blackout in Auckland, which affected about 700,000 people, served as a sharp reminder that New Zealand's electricity system was vulnerable and the country needed to work quickly and smartly to address security of supply, said the institution's chief executive, Andrew Cleland.

'We use nuclear technology for medicine,' he said. 'We don't want it for weapons or to power fighting ships, but the case for electricity supply is different.'

New Zealand passed a law declaring itself nuclear-free in the mid-80s when it banned visits by nuclear-armed and powered vessels. That move is still condemned by the United States, which formally took away its ally status and cut off military cooperation and top-level political ties.

Earlier, in 1973, New Zealand staged a governmental ban-the-bomb protest which attracted world attention, sending a navy ship to make an official protest against atmospheric nuclear tests conducted by France in its Pacific territory of French Polynesia.