Nuclear no cure for climate change, scientists warn (Oz) [View All]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/nuclear-no-cure-for-climate-change-scientists-warn/2006/05/01/1146335671432.html

AUSTRALIA could not develop a domestic nuclear power industry in time to stave off the effects of climate change and such a program would be prohibitively expensive, energy experts say.

The cost of building the large number of nuclear power stations needed to even partly replace coal as a source of electricity would be so heavy no private investor would take on the risk without huge government subsidies, they said.

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Dr Mark Diesendorf, a senior lecturer at the Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of NSW, said a 1000-megawatt nuclear plant would cost at least $3 billion to build - 2½ times that of a coal-fired power plant - and much more to operate than fossil fuel plants. To build a lot of nuclear plants, say, over 20 years, would emit so much greenhouse gas it would take 40 years to break even in terms of CO 2, he said.

"You would have this great big spike in CO 2 emissions … I think the whole thing is insane," he said of suggestions that nuclear power could help fight global warming.

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