Government dismisses Coalition's 10-year nuclear claim as a 'dream'


ABC News
March 10 2024

Energy Minister Chris Bowen has said that Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy Ted O'Brien is 'dreamin' if he believes Australia could have a nuclear power plant operational in 10 years.


The energy minister has rubbished his shadow counterpart's claims Australia could have nuclear power plants up and running in 10 years as the Coalition prepares to announce the nuclear plan it will take to the next election.

Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy Ted O'Brien said on Sunday morning Australia could have a nuclear power plant up in that time. 

"The best experts around the world with whom we've been engaging are saying Australia could have nuclear up and running within a 10-year period," he told Sky News.

Chris Bowen, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, resorted to a quote made famous by the film The Castle to respond to the opposition's future plans.

"Tell 'im he's dreamin'," Mr Bowen told ABC's Insiders.

"I don't know what experts he is talking to.

"With a very developed [nuclear] regulatory regime, with a very developed nuclear industry [in] the nuclear leader of the world, the average build time of a nuclear power plant in the United States is 19 years.

"Ted O'Brien thinks he can do it in Australia in 10 with a standing start, no regulations, banned not only internationally, but throw in the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, you might sell him something."

Australia has a total ban on nuclear energy in place, which the Coalition would have to win the support of parliament to lift even if it won government at the next federal election.   

The regions most likely to go nuclear under Coalition plan
With the Coalition interested in replacing retiring coal plants with nuclear reactors, there are just a handful of regions that would be likely candidates under the opposition's yet to be announced plans to go nuclear.


Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he would be upfront with voters about where the Coalition was looking to place potential nuclear reactors when the party announced its policy in the coming weeks.

Speaking on Channel Seven on Tuesday morning, Mr Dutton confirmed the party was "interested" in replacing retiring coal plants with nuclear because the sites came ready with poles and wires to distribute power.

"The problem is with all Mr Dutton and Mr O'Brien's cases for nuclear, when you put scrutiny on them, they crumble like a Sao in a blender," Mr Bowen said.

When asked if the government would look to lift the ban on nuclear, the energy minister said it could come at a high cost to taxpayers.

"I hear this argument about just lift the ban and let the market sort it out. Well, the market hasn't sorted it out in any other country in the world," he said.   

"Every country in the world with nuclear has required massive transfers of taxpayer wealth to the nuclear constructors."

So-called, "greentape" exist to protect the people and the environment from idiots like you, Lee and the failed Queensland ex-Copper.  Tsk, tsk, tsk... 

lee wrote on Mar 10^th, 2024 at 5:12pm:


Oh, dearie, dearie, me, Lee your concern is commendable even if fake.  You just want belching Chimney stacks spewing smoke and pollution and it seems radiation across the land.  Tsk, tsk, tsk... 

Editor of scientific journal says fake study linking whale deaths to wind farms is 'deliberate misinformation'   

ABC News
7 November 2023

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The federal government's resolve to establish an offshore wind industry is being tested by the emergence of community opposition which the government claims is being influenced by misinformation.

Key points:
The editor of a scientific journal says a study linking wind farms to whale deaths is fake
The claims were shared by a Facebook group opposing the development of offshore wind farms in the Illawarra region
Scientists have refuted other claims about wind farms, including that they will significantly impact swell size and coastal winds
It was the contents of a social media post in a community group that had Professor Quentin Hanich, editor-in-chief of respected scientific journal Marine Policy, trawling through hundreds of academic papers.

The post in the Facebook group No Offshore Wind Farm for the Illawarra referenced a University of Tasmania study purportedly published in his journal that predicted offshore wind turbines "could kill up to 400 whales per year".

"That paper does not exist," Professor Hanich said.

"We never received this imaginary paper … I am seeing no evidence that the study ever took place."

The post has since been deleted, but members of the group continue to regularly post content and videos suggesting a link between whale deaths and wind turbines.   

"There is no science which demonstrates that wind farms have any significant impact on whales," Professor Hanich said.

It is 'deliberate misinformation'
How the wind turbines will affect marine life, particularly whales, is a popular topic of discussion in the Facebook group which boasts 7,000 members.

Hundreds of people sitting on a hill some holding protest signs.
Protesters gather on Flagstaff Hill in Wollongong to oppose offshore turbines.(ABC Illawarra: Kelly Fuller)
Content linking whale deaths off the United States east coast with site surveys for offshore wind turbines regularly appears.

The claims, which are a talking point of former US president Donald Trump, have been refuted by the US government's own National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Whale deaths offshore wind facebook
NOAA repeatedly refutes the social media posts (pictured) saying "there is no scientific evidence that noise resulting from offshore wind site characterisation surveys could potentially cause mortality of whales".(Facebook)
Professor Hanich believes the fake information is part of a "culture war" attempting to undermine the wind industry.   

"We are not seeing any real science so far," he said.

"But we are seeing these types of claims being 'experted' by people like Donald Trump, which seems to imply that it is deliberate misinformation."

lee wrote on Mar 10^th, 2024 at 5:59pm:


The only fake is yourself, Lee.  You really should acquaint yourself properly with renewable energy sources.  Tsk, tsk, tsk... 

And renewables have not been shown to work anywhere, despite protestation about how good it is. To go all electric as some nations seem to want to do requires a vast amount of overbuild to get the same nameplate capacity as now. However nameplate capacity is not actual electricity produced. All those new EV's, smart phones etc all need power as well as the humdrum things like stoves.

They want to outlaw gas, it is one of the Green's dreams. No gas stoves, they have to be scrapped for electric.

whiteknight wrote on Mar 11^th, 2024 at 5:00pm:


Tell us when you get the figures for the new transmission lines needed for the Renewable energy and we can compare.

And the batteries.

BTW - "Investment in new Australian wind and solar farms stalls amid ‘raft of barriers’, report finds"

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/23/investment-in-new-austral...

The average construction time for a nuclear power plant is 7.5 years.  This can be increased by the amount of green tape that is put in the way by anti-nuclear politicians, activists  and bureaucrats.  it should be noted that this green tape is in no way related to safety and environmental issues but is a deliberate stumbling block designed to make progress as difficult as possible for ideological reasons.