Australia wants nuclear power on the agenda at Lima climate talks. USA not so keen

Nuclear on agenda in Australia but not in America ABC Radio The World Today Michael Vincent reported this story on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 NICK GRIMM: This week the Prime Minister spoke about nuclear power plants as an option for Australia to reduce its carbon emissions so long as the private sector, not the Government, foots the bill for them.

It’s an issue Foreign Minister Julie Bishop wants to discuss at international climate talks in Lima, Peru.

But in the United States, the leader of the world’s biggest nuclear energy producing nation has been decidedly quieter about his plans for the industry which he’s supported since he was a candidate.

North America correspondent Michael Vincent reports.

MICHAEL VINCENT: President Obama has barely mentioned nuclear power at all in his six years in office………..

MICHAEL VINCENT: Gas is the cheaper alternative at the moment even with its carbon emissions.
Dr Edwin Lyman is from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

EDWIN LYMAN: That makes nuclear power plants uneconomical to operate, even the ones that have paid off their capital costs. So the industry is struggling…………..

MICHAEL VINCENT: In an article last year the Wall Street Journal wrote that the Energy Information Administration predicts nuclear power will provide only 3 per cent of new capacity for electricity generation through 2040 – the same as for much-maligned coal.

The US government is also yet to build a national repository for all the waste which is currently stored on site at every power plant.

Some estimate the cost of solving that problem at anywhere between US$38 and US$50 billion – more than half of which is the cost to the American tax payers for not collecting the waste when the government said it would back in 1998.

President Obama has made no mention on that topic recently. http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2014/s4141221.htm

December 6, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | General News

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