Antinuclear

Dutton’s ‘nuclear thought bubble’ needs to be popped

The Age, April 6, 2025

Nuclear disaster

Thank you, Peter Garrett, for telling it like it is in his take-down of the Coalition’s ill-conceived, expensive and dangerous nuclear energy policy (“I’ve spent my life fighting nuclear: Here’s what Dutton isn’t telling you about his reactors” March 30). Peter Dutton and his cronies have been allowed to get away with their ridiculous nuclear thought bubble for too long. The Labor Party has been relatively weak in its criticism of what is essentially a “smoke and mirrors” idea to present an alternative to developing renewable energy and to appease the fossil fuel lobby in the bargain. The anti-nuclear energy message needs to be hammered out to all Australians before the election. It is simply a backward and disastrous way to go.
Robert Hickey, Green Point

Thank you so much, Peter Garrett, for your insightful article. You have most eloquently summed up my thoughts and fear of Australia going down the rabbit hole of nuclear power. As a kid, I witnessed the psychological stress of the Cold War when it was thought that our world could end any day, with Russia and America in full conflict. It’s why Australians turned its back on nuclear all those years ago. For those of my era that have read Peter’s article, please share it with your children and get them to share among their friends. I’ve yet to see a mushroom cloud of destruction coming from a solar panel or pumped hydro. Ray Gilmour, Blaxland

Peter Garrett’s article makes very convincing points. Another negative aspect of these proposed nuclear reactors is the amount of cooling water which is required for them to function. These hypothetical nuclear reactors would require at least twice as much water as the existing coal-fired power stations use, and yet we live on the driest inhabited continent. These reactors sound like another thought bubble from Mr Dutton.
Evan Bailey, Glebe

Now in my late 80s, it seems that I must again join demonstrations against proposal for nuclear energy in Australia. Still, the crucial question is: where in Australia will the nuclear waste be stored for hundreds of years? Like Peter Garrett, I thought that we had won this argument decades ago. Else Gelling, Merimbula https://www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/dutton-s-nuclear-thought-bubble-needs-to-be-popped-20250330-p5lnlg.html

April 7, 2025 Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics | Leave a comment