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Australian minister rejects nuclear power

0 Comments | Xinhua News Agency – CEIS, Apr 12, 2010

Australian minister rejects nuclear power

SYDNEY, April 12 (Xinhua) — Australian Climate Change Minister Penny Wong on Monday rejected nuclear power in favor of renewable energy and storage of emissions from coal.

“The majority of our power still comes from coal,” she said in a public lecture at the Queensland University of Technology.

“If you look at the International Energy Agency’s projections out to 2050, coal is still going to be a significant part of the world’s energy profile, that’s a fact.

“So if you want to do something about climate change you’re going to have to find some technologies to address emissions from coal, otherwise you don’t have a solution to climate change.”

Wong ruled out the nuclear option.

“Nuclear power – we do have a view that that’s not the sensible course when it comes to domestic power generation,” she said.

She outlined the cost of inaction on Queensland’s primary industries and the Great Barrier Reef and listed initiatives introduced by the Australian government.

Wong said there was no choice but to introduce a carbon pollution reduction scheme.

“To reduce carbon pollution you have to put a price on it, to make polluters pay a premium if they want to keep polluting and to create the reward for clean development,” she said
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