Unclear about Nuclear?

Last month's excitement about a major breakthrough in Nuclear Fission seems to have triggered people’s interest in the nuclear topic in general.

Since then we’ve had Bill Gates visit Australia to chat with PM Anthony Albanese and Dr Michael Fullilove of the Lowy Institute about Nuclear Energy, Sustainability and his funding of Nuclear Fission company TerraPower. Bill Gates is a long time investor in Nuclear Power and believes that it is an essential part of decarbonising the grid.

At the other end of th e scale, 16-year-old Will Shackel, from Brisbane, says that the majority of people his age now support nuclear as an economically viable source of energy and a way to help solve climate problems. He’s so enthusiastic about the issue that he’s opened an Instagram account titled Nuclear4Australia and has started a petition to reverse Australia’s ban on nuclear.

Asked why, he says “I’ve always been interested in nuclear energy and I find it to be one of the only issues that all young people have a consensus on - It is the future of energy.”

Is Will justified in be lieving this and pushing to reverse Australia’s ban on Nuclear? For many Nuclear instantly brings to mind Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl, Fukushima and Three Mile Island. A decision to steer well clear of anything that dangerous seems pretty straightforward.

But it’s somewhat like the way we’ve steered clear of hydrogen filled airships ever since the Hindenburg disaster on May 6, 1937. 35 out of 97 people on board were killed and no hydrogen filled airship has ever flown commercially again.

Yet today one of the most touted solutions to the problem of climate change is Green Hydrogen. When burned, as in the case of the Hindenburg, the by-product is clean non polluting water, with not a trace of CO2 – But it’s still the same hydrogen and no less dangerous today than it was 86 Years ago. It seems that the more time since a disaster the less frightening it is.

So when we hear that today’s teenagers think that “nuclear is the future of energy” and that one of the world’s largest philanthropists thinks that the use of nuclear is vital to achieving net zero, is it time to start reviewing Australia’s ban on nuclear?

32 countries alrea dy h ave nuclear power plants and in France about 70% of all power is generated by nuclear reactors, and even exported. In 2022 there were 439 nuclear reactors throughout the world, and China alone is currently building 15. In addition they are planning another 150 over the next 15 years.

In light of this it’s interesting to review how safe they are. It is currently understood that 3 Mile Island caused no deaths, 433 people died in Chernobyl and 2,314 in Fukushima.

Contrast this with 171,000 deaths as the result of the Banqiao Dam Failure in China in 1975. The example is extreme, but shows that all power sources come with risk. Death rates per terawatt-hour are estimated at 32.72 for brown coal, 1.3 for hydro, 0.04% for wind, 0.03% for nuclear and 0.02% for solar. In view of this it seems reaso na ble to start investigating the removal of Australia’s ban on nuclear.

For our part we we lcome you to investigate the February edition of Eastern Suburbs Life, starting with good news for back pain sufferers (P3), good news that South Head is now State Heritage listed (P4), good news that 2nd LIFE can reduce landfill by rehoming good condition items that people throw out (P9), good news about Blue Barlow’s musical achievements (P10) and good news about Bondi Pavilion’s new artistic director (P16).

All this is broug ht to you by an enthusiastic team of local writers who go way beyond the call of duty to bring you content that is informative, interesting and uplifting. They deserve a big thank you, as do our printers, distributors, customer support and design team.

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