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Rapid Roundup: Nuclear Debate - Scientists Respond

March 31 2006

NB: A Rapid Roundup titled "Should Australia Embrace Nuclear Power" (29 May 06) is also available.

With the debate heating up about whether Australia should expand its sales of uranium to countries such as India and China, Australian scientists and energy experts face some of the tough questions about nuclear power; Is it ever going to be safe enough? With terrorism still a major global problem, can we afford to use or even sell uranium in future? Will climate change force us down the nuclear track whether we like it or not and is it really any better than “clean coal”?

And what about thorium as an alternative to uranium? Is it safer and could it be the way of the future? Given that Australia has the largest reserves of thorium in the world, why is Australia lagging behind in thorium research?  A 10-page background document on thorium is available in Issue 8 of Cosmos Magazine.

This round-up is the first in a series of AusSMC briefings and round-ups on Australia's energy options, including fossil fuels, renewables and nuclear.

The following scientists comment on the latest debate: 

Professor Aidan Byrne, Head, Department of Physics, Australian National University, holds a joint appointment with the Department of Nuclear Physics and Engineering at the ANU. He has spent over two years working in Germany as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow and has been undertaking research in nuclear structure physics for over 25 years.  Comment.

Professor Peter Johnston, Nuclear physicist, Head of Physics Department, RMIT. He is a member of the Nuclear Safety Committee and the Radiation Health Safety Advisory Council established under the ARPANS Act. He has more than 20 years experience in radiation protection and is scientific adviser to Maralinga Tjarutja who are traditional owners of the former nuclear test site at Maralinga, South Australia.  Comment.

Frank Muller is an Adjunct Professor at the UNSW Institute for Environmental Studies. He is a policy expert with specific interests in greenhouse and sustainable development policy.  Comment.

Associate Professor Martin Sevior, School of Physics, University of Melbourne
A researcher of experimental particle physics using accelerators in Europe and Japan. He helped develop a website (www.nuclearinfo.net) designed to explain the risks and benefits of both employing or not employing nuclear power for energy generation. Comment.

Associate Professor Hugh Outhred, Presiding Director, Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets, University of NSW.  Hugh is an electrical engineer who has been studying energy systems and their relative economic merits for 30 years. Comment.

Dr Reza Hashemi-Nezhad, School of Physics, University of Sydney is a nuclear physicist and Australia’s only expert in the field of Accelerator Driven Nuclear Reactors which uses thorium as fuel. He has been working on this field for 10 years in international collaborations with some of his research funding from Germany. Comment.

Dr Mark Diesendorf is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Environmental Studies, University of New South Wales, and Director of the Sustainability Centre in Sydney. Comment.

For further information or to speak with one of these scientists, contact the AusSMC on (08) 8207 7415 or email us.