Australia gears up for nuclear power

Nov 26, 2006, 9:39 GMT

Sydney - Australia could have 25 nuclear power stations meeting a third of electricity demand by 2050, the head of a panel set up by Prime Minister John Howard said Sunday.

'We could see the first nuclear reactor in Australia as quickly as 10 years out,' said nuclear physicist Ziggy Switkowski, the former head of phone giant Telstra.

He warned that a tax on carbon emissions would be needed to make nuclear power price competitive.

After many years of rejecting the notion of carbon trading, Howard earlier this month accepted that Australia would join a trading system as part of its programme to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases that can contribute to climate change.

'I think there's no doubt that nuclear power today is financially not competitive,' Switkowski said. 'And, given the long lead times and other risks associated with investments, most utilities would shy away from committing to nuclear power in the absence of a national strategy to reduce greenhouse gases.'

He told local television that renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power could not replace the coal that Australia currently relies on for more than 80 per cent of its power generation.

'Electricity needs to have a very high level of consistent, efficient, uninterruptible baseload power, and that can only be provided by fossil fuels and nuclear, and it can then be supplemented by renewables in the main at the moment,' Switkowski said.

Howard has come round to the view that switching to nuclear power could help curb the greenhouse gases believed to cause global warming.

'Those who say they are in favour of doing something about global warming but turn their faces against considering nuclear power are unreal,' Howard said last month.

'It's part of the solution - I'm not saying it's the only solution - I just think that if we're serious about having a debate about global warming, particularly as the holder of some of the largest uranium reserves in the world, we have got to be willing to consider the nuclear option.'