Nuclear power has key role in fight against climate change

THE Rudd Government's white paper on the final design of its emissions trading scheme has triggered a vigorous debate that will certainly continue into the new year.

In defending the 2020 emission reduction target range of 5-15 per cent, Climate Minister Penny Wong said she was "acting in the national interest" and protecting jobs and reducing energy costs on behalf of Australian industry and all energy consumers.

It would appear that the recent Poznan negotiations have achieved very little to further the United Nations' climate change agenda, which is aimed at having developed countries cut their emissions by 25-40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

Without a sensible energy policy in place, Australia will continue to be challenged by this. By contrast, the nuclear-powered European Union is laughing all the way to the global carbon bank. It is in Australia's national interest to follow the EU's example.

Professor Ross Garnaut's final report — released at the end of September — concedes that nuclear power could supply more than a quarter of Australia's electricity by 2050 if a proposed policy based on "clean coal" and "renewables" fails. But he questions the technology on economic grounds and restates his earlier convictions that Australia is "not the logical first home of a new nuclear capacity".