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Howard embraces nuclear energy

Australia will embrace the next generation of nuclear power plants and ease restrictions on uranium mining under a long-term plan to address climate change, Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday.

Howard said Australia could not afford to ignore the nuclear option if it was serious about meeting the challenge of climate change.

Howard said it was a "stark reality" that only fossil and nuclear fuels were capable of firing the power plants used to meet Australia's needs, unlike renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.

He said Australia, which has abundant reserves of both coal and uranium, had to examine how to incorporate nuclear power into its long-term energy plans.

"Inevitably part of the solution must be to admit, in years to come, nuclear power into this country," Howard told a Liberal Party conference in Victoria state.

"That's why I'm announcing today a strategy for the future development of uranium mining and nuclear power in Australia.

"I believe it to be our responsibility, if we are serious about tackling the problems of climate change, to embrace and promote clean coal technology, to put the nuclear option on the table."

Australia currently has only one nuclear reactor, which is used to produce isotopes for medical research.

Howard said Australia needed to start planning its nuclear future immediately, including participating in development of the fourth generation of nuclear reactors, which are not expected to be ready until 2030.

"We need to take some immediate action to remove unnecessary constraints impeding the expansion of uranium mining and to make a firm commitment Australia's participation in the generation four advanced nuclear reactor research program," he said.

Howard said nuclear plants were now a proven technology.

"I'm not talking here about something that's revolutionary and untried," he said. "Fifteen percent of the world's electricity is generated by nuclear power, France generates 80 percent of her energy by nuclear power."

Howard, whose conservative government will seek a fifth term later this year, has frequently expressed skepticism about global warming, but recently softened his view in response to opinion polls.

Meanwhile, Australia's center-left Labor Party scrapped its 25-year ban on new uranium mines yesterday after a divisive debate at the party's national policy conference in Sydney.

But Labor maintained its staunch opposition to nuclear power or any nuclear enrichment industry in Australia.

While Labor is in opposition nationally, Labor is in power in all of Australia's six states and two territories, and the state governments continue to hold the powers to approve or veto mining developments.
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