Nielson Poll Reveals 49% of Australians Favor of Nuclear Power as Alternative to Fossils Fuels

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Public opinion in Australia has swung closer to accepting nuclear power as a viable alternative to fossil fuels, according to a Nielson poll published in newspapers owned by Fairfax Media Limited (ASX:FXJ) (Sydney, Australia) earlier this month.

According to the poll--which simply asked "Do you favor or oppose the construction of nuclear power stations in Australia?"--49% of respondents said nuclear power should be considered for the future energy needs of Australia, while 43% were totally opposed to the use of nuclear power. In a 2002 poll, 38% favored nuclear power and 51% were opposed to the idea.

The Australian federal government, however, has made it clear that it does not support the idea of nuclear power plants in the country. In the lead up to the federal election in 2007, the leader of the then-opposition Labor Party, Kevin Rudd, promised that electing a Labor government would ensure no nuclear reactors in Australia.

Despite the poll results, Rudd sees no reason to change his mind now that his party is in power. In an interview broadcast on the national public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), in response to the poll results, Rudd and his Environment Minister said that Australia has a wide range of energy resources, including clean coal and large solar applications.

Despite the government's stance on building nuclear reactors in Australia, it appears to have no qualms on the exploitation of uranium for use in other countries. Australia holds almost 23% of the world's uranium reserves and is third only to Canada and Kazakhstan as a uranium exporter. The country exports about 10,000 tons each year.

Australia does have one nuclear reactor, the 20-megawatt Open-Pool Australian Light Water Reactor, commissioned in 2007 for the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization at Lucas Heights in the southern suburbs of Sydney. The reactor is reserved purely for scientific research.

Despite the strong stand taken by the ruling Labor Party, there are several politicians in Australia who support the case for a nuclear industry, notably the National Party, which last year passed a resolution at its New South Wales state conference calling for research into the development of a nuclear power industry and the possibility of establishing a storage facility for nuclear waste in Australia.

In August this year, the Australian Senate passed a government-sponsored bill requiring 20% of power produced to be obtained from renewable sources by 2020. In 2006, total annual production capacity in Australia was 255 terawatt-hours, but of this, only 9,500 gigawatt-hours, or 4%, was obtained from renewable sources, mainly in the form of solar, wind and hydroelectric energy.

It is estimated that energy needs in Australia will grow by as much as 2% each year up to 2020, requiring the construction of the equivalent of a 1,000-megawatt power plant each year until 2020.

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