Antinuclear

OUR VIEW: THE Coast has an abiding interest in the future of the energy industry in Australia.

Our pristine environment depends upon it, after all.

We were once the target of politically mischievous claims that the Coast was on a list of “possible future nuclear power plant sites”.

This week, however, lost in headlines about terrorism, terror laws and our continued reliance on coal this week, Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane ruled out nuclear power plants in Australia, in line with government policy.

We are pleased to hear it.

The issue has bubbled up with the release of the government’s Energy Green Paper, which urges the establishment of a broad mix of energy sources, including nuclear power.

Mr Macfarlane said, how-ever, his focus was on keeping consumer costs down while forging an energy industry that provided investment and development opportunities.

“We are blessed in Australia with a broad set of energy sources, and not only in terms of coal and gas, but also renewable energy, and renewable energy will grow as part of our energy mix,” he said.

“So there is … no need to have a debate in regard to nuclear energy in Australia, but we should focus on the opportunities that nuclear energy presents in other countries and build our uranium industry to take advantage of that.”

That, of course, sets off a different chain-reaction debate.