<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/bowen-says-asking-australia-to-go-nuclear-is-like-asking-the-swiss-to-take-up-surfing/>
"Federal energy minister Chris Bowen has again attacked the federal Coalition’s
nuclear power policy, saying it is not compatible with renewables in
Australia’s grid and comparing it to asking the Swiss to take up surfing.
“I have no ideological objection to nuclear energy,” Bowen said at a dinner
function at the Australian Clean Energy Summit in Sydney on Tuesday.
“Some have a moral objection (to nuclear), I don’t. I have an economic and
engineering objection. Climate and energy policy can be built around economic
and engineering. Nuclear in Australia fails on both tests – economics, because
it is so expensive, and engineering because it takes so long to build.
“If I was the energy minister of a country without renewable resources, maybe I
would have to think about that. But saying this country is going nuclear so we
should use it, is like going to Switzerland and saying, ‘look I know you have
got lots of snow, but we really think you should try surfing’.”
Bowen said Australia has the best wind and solar resources in the world and
combining the two made no sense.
“Let’s not pretend for a second that nuclear can be some sort of benign
addition to renewables … it’s baseload and we don’t need new baseload, we need
new energy which compliments renewables.”
Bowen says the federal Coalition’s push for nuclear is already having an impact
on investment sentiment for renewables in Australia.
He will take up the issue again at an appearance at the National Press Club in
Canberra, where he will once again focus on the incompatibility of nuclear and
renewables in a wind and solar rich country such as Australia."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
