Australia pushes nuclear power

LONDON - Politicians standing in the way of a nuclear power industry are guilty of "environmental vandalism", Australia's environment minister said today.

Senator Ian Campbell is representing Australia at a major environmental summit in London, comprising the G8 nations, burgeoning powers China, India, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa plus other major nations such as Indonesia.

He described it as "a turning point" in environmental history, with nations becoming increasingly urgent in attempts to curtail the starkly-evident acceleration in global warming.

Prompting the urgency was the need to reduce carbon emissions while growing economies stoke up their burgeoning economies, with China alone to build 500 coal-fired power stations in the next 25 years.

The meeting addressed the need for such new power stations to employ 'carbon capture' technology that liquefy emissions for storage rather than release them as gas into the atmosphere.

Senator Campbell said Australian companies could capitalise on the need for these technologies, and predicted Australian governments - federal and state - will have to commit much more to nurturing private sector research and development in that area.

"I can absolutely assure you there will be a need for more," Sen. Campbell said.

"The imperative is to invest massive amounts of money in new technology.

"It's a do or die matter for the planet and that will involve public sector investment leveraging private sector investment."

The meeting here was called by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who himself had committed his Labour government to revisiting nuclear power plants.

Australia stood to benefit from a revival of the nuclear industry due to its position as repository of the world's biggest uranium supply, and Senator Campbell said there must not be political impediments to growing the industry.

"If it can create energy with zero emissions it has to be on the table," he said.

"You don't want to rule out any options for ideological reasons.

"Any politician who stands in the way of providing uranium to the world is committing an outrageous act of environmental vandalism."

The Kyoto protocol is due to expire in 2012, but the unforeseen explosion in China and India's economies required action well before then to curb emissions, with China set to become the world's biggest carbon emitter within 20 years.

It also recognised the failure of Kyoto to stem climate change as nations had sacrificed Kyoto targets at the altar of economic growth, with the new model favouring the expansion of counter-carbon technology and the growth of the likes of nuclear and alternative fuels.

"Binding caps are not likely to be part of the beyond-Kyoto agreements," Sen. Campbell said.

"I'm far more optimistic after the meeting than I was before it, because people really want to act now.

"It's a very important turning point, as the world moves forward to address this. "

- AAP