"Nuclear power is part of Australia's future"

Australian Prime Minister John Howard declared that nuclear energy is "a source of hope" as he officially opened the Opal research reactor.

Howard told reporters that "Nuclear energy, nuclear science, nuclear power is part of Australia's future and those who seek to shut the nuclear option out of anything in relation to power generation or science or medicine in the future are really looking backwards rather than forwards."

The Opal (Open Pool Australian Light-water) reactor will be used for research purposes and not commercial power production. However, Werner Burkat, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that Australia was ready to make use of nuclear energy for its electricity needs.

"I think Australia would have the technology level, you would have the kind of good governance, you would have the kind of regulatory infrastructure," said Burkat.

His comments were echoed by Howard, who said "Nuclear power is cleaner than power from coal or from gas, and as coal gets dearer as we apply technologies which produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, then inevitably it will become more economic to use nuclear power."

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/