South Australia Premier Jay Weatherill says the South Australia Government is opposed to nuclear energy as a way to cut down carbon emissions. A nuclear power advocate Professor Barry Brook of Adelaide University thinks it is inevitable Australia will embrace nuclear energy.
Professor Brook expects small nuclear power plants could be built in years to come, possibly at outback mining sites.
“It can provide clean energy for it and it’s actually producing metals and fuel for the rest of the world,” he said.
“I would suggest by about 2025 there’s going to be a lot of serious debate about getting the first reactors built here and probably the way it can be done is to build small reactors you can bury underground, so they’re very safe like that.”
Mr Weatherill says using nuclear energy is not on the table.
“It doesn’t represent the policy of this Government,” he said.
“Leaving aside the broader objections, there is a practical, financial objective that means that nuclear power for South Australia is unlikely to be viable.”
(Source: ABC News http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-05/nuclear-energy-mining-sites-barry-brook-weatherill/4052650 )