At-a-glance: Nuclear power - Cure or curse?

Is nuclear power more practical and sustainable than other alternatives? What are the costs of going nuclear, for your health, budget and safety in an increasingly unsafe world?

PRO-NUCLEAR

· Oil crunch 'looming'

· Other options 'not enough'

· Nuclear power 'is clean'

· Technology to store nuclear waste 'safe'

AGAINST NUCLEAR

· Nuclear waste problem 'still unresolved'

· Nuclear plants 'a possible target for terrorist'

· Nuclear power 'won't be available in time'

· Leaks and spills 'already happening'

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in the five years between 1999 and 2004 the total consumption of electricity in Australia increased by 19 per cent.

That is an increase of 11per cent per person. During the same period the Australian population grew by 6 per cent and our gross domestic product rose by nearly 18 per cent.

A recent government white paper addressed the need for a national framework for energy efficiency. It concluded that Australians should seriously consider using nuclear power to generate energy.

The question is: Should Australia embrace nuclear energy?

PRO-NUCLEAR POWER

Associate Professor Martin Sevior, from the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne, is in favour of nuclear power.

Oil crunch 'looming'

In an interview from Melbourne University's Upclose podcast, Mr Sevior said the first and more immediate problem is that Australia, like the rest of the world, is coming up against an oil crunch.

"The rate at which oil can be produced and extracted from the ground is likely to reach some maximum to peak, some time within the next ten years," Mr Sevior said.

"When that happens and as that happens the price of petrol will substantially increase and we've seen that this year. In the process we'll need to find some other form of energy to drive our personal transport”.

Other options 'not enough'

Associate Professor Sevior says the problem with other options, especially within an Australian context is that they can't scale to the demand for energy that we've placed upon ourselves and upon our resources.

"Wind power can perhaps provide up to 10 or 15 per cent of our total electricity consumption. Solar power maybe in 20 years time could do something similar".

"But for the sort of large scale electricity production that we are likely to need over the next 5, 10, 20 years, nuclear seems to be the best option, the most mature option," he said.

Nuclear power 'is clean'

The whole problem of greenhouse gases is enormous. The challenge is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent, by 2050.

"To do that we'll have to introduce a whole range of new technologies and a new way of doing business, and using nuclear power is one way to address that. It won't be the only means".

"But for the amount of electricity that is produced greenhouse gas emissions resulting from nuclear power will be one per cent that of, say, coal. So that's a huge contribution to greenhouse gas reduction," Mr Sevior said.

Technology to store nuclear waste 'safe'

Mr Sevior also played down the risks associated to nuclear waste.

"Our society produces large amounts of waste of all different types.

Actually, the handling of nuclear waste has been generally far better than many other kinds of wastes that we've produced in our industrial society.

"It can be and has been isolated from the environment and to date, except for Chernobyl, there have been no large scale contaminations of the general public. I don't think Chernobyl will ever happen again.

"It was a terrible design with terrible safety procedures, and the world has learnt the lessons from Chernobyl.

Australia 'needs to have nuclear power option'