Antinuclear

No finance for impossibly costly nuclear power in Western Australia

why is it that no investor wants to put their own money into building a nuclear power station in Western Australia?….It’s not the environmental movement that is preventing nuclear power becoming available in Western Australia, it is merchant bankers!

The myth of Nuclear Energy for WA,  Wangle April 4th, 2011  By Bill Johnston MLA The current situation in Japan has given pause to the calls from some people that nuclear energy will fix Western Australia’s energy problems. However, it will not be long before we see those comments beginning again.

This is accompanied by the implication that it is somehow the environmental movement that is holding back this nuclear energy nirvana.

These advocates effectively say that there is no need to take action on climate change because the environmental movement won’t support nuclear power generation in Western Australia.

The one thing that unites all these commentaries is that they are never made by people who have a billion dollars to invest in the energy sector. They are always by commentators, or politicians, trying to say how other people should spend their money.

So, why is it that no investor wants to put their own money into building a nuclear power station in Western Australia?………

And where would we get the fuel from? Many commentators advocating for a nuclear option for Western Australia point to Australia’s large uranium deposits and say “there is our fuel”.

However, they neglect to point out that this uranium can’t power a nuclear reactor. To power a nuclear reactor, you need to enrich uranium and then turn it into fuel rods. Even CANDU reactors, that do not need fuel to be enriched, still must have uranium processed into fuel.

Australia cannot enrich uranium and we do not manufacture fuel rods. We don’t process or manufacture fuel for CANDU reactors. 100% of the fuel for a Western Australian nuclear reactor would be imported…….
It’s about the economy …
It surprises me that, as a Labor politician, I am the one who raises the free market as part of examining nuclear energy for Western Australia. No matter which side of the debate you are on regarding all the environmental and technical issues concerning nuclear powerwhy is it that no investor wants to put their own money into building a nuclear power station in Western Australia?….It’s not the environmental movement that is preventing nuclear power becoming available in Western Australia, it is merchant bankers!

The myth of Nuclear Energy for WA | wangle

April 5, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business, Western Australia