Atomic power is the answer for clean energy

Getting up close and personal with Australia’s energy challenge is a fascinating and daunting experience. Activists and politicians often tell us net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will be an easy task, full of

“green jobs”. But they are spinning a big lie — on current technology, using renewable energy and storage, it cannot be done.

People love renewable energy, and why not? If we could power our lives on endless sunshine and wind, we would not use anything else.

But the lights of the cities tell you our thirst for energy is relentless, day and night. We expect power when we need it, and renewables just are not reliable.

To see how much the world needs and values energy I went to the Hunter Valley and Newcastle where mines, trains, conveyor belts and ships work relentlessly to export 160 million tonnes of coal a year, fuelling China, South Korea and Japan.

The port infrastructure runs on 100 per cent renewable energy — probably saving the amount of emissions produced by a couple of dozen of the 1.6 million railway trucks of coal they shift annually.

So, what is the answer? Well, it is literally under our noses.

Australia also exports uranium, and it generates enough emissions-free power overseas to make up for our annual carbon emissions. Yet we refuse to use this safe, reliable and emissions-free energy ourselves. A reactor — used for research and nuclear medicine — has operated safely at Lucas Heights, on Sydney’s southern fringe, for seven decades. We plan to run nuclear submarines too; so our aversion to nuclear energy defies logic. If we want reliable energy without greenhouse gas emissions, nuclear is the answer.

Going Nuclear — The Clean Energy Debate hosted by Chris Kenny, airs on Monday, October 25, at 8pm AEDST on Sky News Australia.