Martin pointed out the rise in costs of household and industrial electricity. He went on to say that, while hydro-generated power contributes to some of our needs, our electricity is principally obtained from fossil fuels. The contribution to climate change from the use of fossil fuels is well documented. Martin did not dwell on this point, except to introduce the relatively radical concept (in Australia) of generating electricity from nuclear sources.
He addressed the ready availability of uranium in this country, the methods of enriching uranium for use in nuclear reactors. Currently, uranium is used in Australia for only medicinal purposes. He also addressed the safety issues that concern many Australians. He pointed out that Australia is the ONLY developed country in which use of uranium for power generation is illegal. So many countries now use nuclear energy to generate electricity with no ill effects that Australia is lagging far behind in this area.
SAFETY: Martin detailed the more infamous incidents involving out-of-control uranium, viz. Chernobyl in the 80’s, and Fukushima more recently. Fatalities associated with these two incidents were 32 (Chernobyl) and 0 (possibly 1) (Fukushima).The world has advanced greatly from those days in terms of design and of management of nuclear power stations.
Peter Robson