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Senators have called for the eradication of Australian legislation banning nuclear energy, saying that the technology could play an important role in ensuring energy reliability in the transition from fossil fuels. Suggests.
This was after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report urged environmental activists to the destroyed Parliament and demanded more from Australia to address climate issues.
Nuclear power is currently banned by the Australian Institut de Radiological Safety Act (ARPANS) of 1998 and the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999 (EPBC).
But Senator Jackie Lambie is wondering why nuclear power isn’t at the table to support Australia’s energy security as Australia is rushing to reduce emissions.
“France and Sweden have replaced their entire coal fleet with nuclear power. Currently, they have the lowest per capita carbon emissions in the world,” Lambie told the Senate.pdf). “In the meantime, we have almost one-third of the world’s uranium here, but for some reason we don’t use it ourselves.”
Senator Sam McMahon will introduce a bill to amend the law banning nuclear energy, supported by Senators (2 votes from Senator Matthew Canavan and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation). I have received it, but I have not yet reached one vote to hold the majority. At the upper house.
The Australian Government had previously considered canceling the moratorium as part of a “technology, not tax” approach to emission reductions.
In particular, the federal government has advocated the Small Module Reactor (SMR) as a technology that promises to address the basic issues of traditional nuclear reactors, such as cost and safety, and through a recently announced partnership with the United Kingdom. Field.
SMR promises to prefab individual components in specialized facilities and can incorporate state-of-the-art failsafe mechanisms that significantly reduce manufacturing costs and significantly eliminate the risk of catastrophic failure.
The New South Wales Productivity Commission has also proposed SMR as a route to restart the state’s economy following the recession caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, also known as the new coronavirus. ..
However, Iven Mareels, a professor of engineering at the University of Melbourne with a background in nuclear systems, expressed concern that SMR technology has not yet been proven, especially in Australia.
For example, Mareels outlined that Australia has not developed a nuclear submarine that utilizes SMR technology.
“Can we ask why Australia doesn’t have nuclear submarines? After all, it’s a better way to increase the reliability and quietness of submarines,” Marilles told The Epoch Times. “If you want to prove that technology works modularly, it’s a good idea to start there.”
Currently, private sector SMR projects are incomplete and many of the state-funded projects are delayed or over budget.
Mareels does not oppose the idea of nuclear power, but points out that there is a shortage of available workforce to develop and operate the SMR infrastructure.
“Sure, nuclears can help, but do you have time to train a whole new workforce in this area? Importing yet another technology to make your power system more dependent on externalities Can you do it?”
Marilles believes that nuclear power only delays Australia’s emission reduction efforts, and the only way the technology works is to completely rethink several basic aspects of Australian society.
“Nuclear power will provide a timely solution unless it imports technology and the workforce together, makes the necessary regulatory changes, and educates the public to live with what we have avoided forever. It’s a step away from that, “said Marilles.
But Kanaban, who supported Lambi’s call for a nuclear revolution, argued that Australia would only benefit from the rapid development of green and reliable energy.
“I agree that it will take a long time to build a new nuclear industry, but the reason for starting now is even more so,” Kanaban told The Epoch Times. “As the old Chinese saying goes, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today.”
Canavan emphasized that the development of new nuclear technology would benefit future Australians and offered more carbon-free energy options.
“New nuclear technologies, such as small modular reactors, mean that future Australians may want to build a nuclear power plant. If they don’t start work today, for future Australians Will reduce the choices of. “
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