The choice is not nuclear energy v coal (OZ)

[jpak]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/the-choice-is-not-nuclear-energy-v-coal/2006/11/23/1163871546318.html?page=2

If Stern is right, making nuclear power the vanguard of an energy revolution pitches Australia head first into risky territory — economically and otherwise — simply because of the delay it demands.

Australia already has an abundance of zero-emission renewable and low-emission energy technologies. They could be deployed en masse tomorrow and begin to cut our greenhouse gas emissions. This would be instead of our waiting 15 or 20 years for a nuclear power station to be built.

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Nicholas Stern says, simply "correct the greatest market failure the world has ever seen". A carbon trading scheme can be designed in a way that protects trade-exposed industries. But a carbon trading scheme needs to start soon, not in five or 10 years.

And this matter — of time — is of critical importance.

We don't need to wait 15 to 20 years to build nuclear power stations.

More importantly, we don't have 15 to 20 years to wait to build them

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