A whole month has passed since my last entry on this blog. The last four weeks have been incredibly busy, with Wilderness Society workers and volunteers traveling around the east coast of Australia, meeting people in shopping malls, spring fairs, agricultural shows, at the beach, along the roadside, anywhere really - talking to people about the dangers of John Howard’s nuclear plans for Australia.

The talk of me-tooism during the election campaign failed to acknowledge the big differences that existed between the two major parties on the nuclear front.

The Howard government backed the building of 25 nuclear reactors up and down the east coast of Australia. The ALP didn’t.

The Howard government wanted to build a uranium enrichment plant in Australia. The ALP didn’t.

The Howard government wanted to build an international nuclear waste dump in Australia. The ALP didn’t.

The Howard government wanted to impose a national nuclear waste dump on the Northern Territory, using draconian legislation that removed people’s basic democratic rights. The ALP opposed the legislation and promised to repeal it.

The Howard government joined President Bush’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership. The ALP opposed this.

The Howard government wanted to export uranium to India, a nation that hasn’t ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The ALP didn’t.

Finally, the Howard government was in the process of severely weakening our former strand stand against nuclear weapons. The ALP promised to restore Australia’s strong support for nuclear disarmament.

These add up to huge differences. But there is one major point of me-tooism: unrestricted uranium mining. This will become the future battlefront for environmental groups and indigenous people who oppose mining this toxic material and want to see it kept well underground.

The Wilderness Society’s nuclear free campaign was established to overturn John Howard’s nuclear plans for Australia and to promote the real solutions to climate change: energy efficiency and domestic renewable energy. With the crushing victory of the Labor Party on Sat 24^th November, the campaign is no longer needed in its current form. This is a huge relief!

The Wilderness Society is starting up a campaign against a uranium mining proposal in South Australia in the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary. Our Adelaide office is taking the lead on this. I wish them every success in their campaign.

As our Say Yes! To a Nuclear Free Australia campaign closes down, I want to thank all those people who supported the campaign, whether through signing our online petition, signing our pamphlet, texting us, or simply casting a vote against a nuclear future.

I would particularly like to thank Robin Taubenfeld, Amelia Young and Peter Cooper (TWS nuclear free campaigners), volunteers who helped with our White Elephant tour, Dr Helen Caldicott for her indefatigable opposition to the nuclear industry and her active support for this campaign and other anti-nuclear environment groups who have worked tirelessly for years against a nuclear Australia.

This is my final entry to this blog, which will shortly be closing down. Yours for a nuclear free Australia!

Public concern over the risks of a nuclear industry in Australia will only increase due to the secrecy surrounding the closure of the new reactor at the Lucas Heights research facility in southern Sydney.

People living on the doorstep of the Lucas Heights reactor have been kept in the dark about the situation since July. Now the community is being told that the reactor will not be operational until sometime early in 2008.

What’s blindingly obvious to the community living close to the reactor is that there were told porkies in the lead up to the approval of a new reactor. They were told Australia needed a new reactor because of the medical isotopes it would produce.

But during the extended closure, these isotopes are being imported with no disruption to security of supply and no disruption to vital health services.

The culture of secrecy surrounding the Lucas Heights reactor is just a taste of things to come for communities across the country if the Prime Minister's plan for 25 nuclear reactors were to go ahead.

This global nuclear industry has a long track record of secrecy surrounding its many problems, and governments tend to be very supportive of that culture of secrecy.

At a time when safe, renewable energy and energy efficiency options are readily available in Australia, it defies logic that nuclear energy would be seriously considered.

The Government is trying hard to bury the nuclear issue deep underground before the election. But there is no doubt that a Coalition Government – if re-elected – would move swiftly to implement new laws to allow a full blown nuclear industry in Australia.

If the Coalition wins the election, the first thing the Prime Minister should do is take a holiday in Austria. Why? Apart from the stunning scenery and great walking opportunities, the PM could learn a little about good nuclear policy.

The Austrian Environment Minister recently asked the Austrian Nuclear Advisory Board – the relevant government scientific advisory body – to see whether Austria should change its current policy of exiting the nuclear industry, in the light of climate change.

Austria built only one nuclear power plant, but never switched it on, due to strong negative public opinion. In 1997 the Austrian Parliament voted against nuclear power in the country.

The Austrian Environment Minister asked the Nuclear Advisory Board: Have advances in science and technology made a revision  of the Austrian energy policy regarding nuclear necessary, especially in view of climate change  and “Peak Oil”? Has the nuclear option become sustainable? 

Here was the reply:

In spite of  nominal safety improvements in nuclear power plants a long list of “near-misses” documents that  severe accidents can never be excluded; nuclear installations can only marginally be protected  against terrorist attacks; proliferation continues to be a serious problem and a sustainable  solution of the radioactive waste problem is not in sight. But even if one were to overlook all these  drawbacks a nuclear power scale-up would come too late to contribute significantly towards the  solution of the challenges of climate change and “Peak Oil”.

Nuclear power is not even a cheap  solution: energy efficiency measures and alternative energies are superior ecologically and  economically. Maybe surprising for many: should nuclear be significantly up-scaled fissionable  uranium would become scarce within a few decades, just like oil. The nuclear solution then leads  to a plutonium economy – and fourth generation reactor concepts point in this direction – with all  the associated dangers and significantly higher proliferation risks. 

According to the Austrian Environment Minister, Josef Pröll, nuclear power is not the convincing solution that some claim. He says that there is no reason to change the Austrian policy.  

Our focus on energy efficiency and alternative  energies is far sighted and the right way to go. We are convinced that in following this path we  also contribute to the awareness building that is necessary to achieve a sustainable and more  responsible use of energy. 

So, John Howard should be donning his lederhosen and hot footing it to Austria – if he wins the election.

At the third annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, two major US energy utitlities, along with solar technology company Ausra, announced a commitment that could herald the real beginning of a solar age.

Ausra, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Florida Power & Light (FPL) announced the development of 1,000 megawatts of solar thermal power generation. This will produce 50 million megawatt-hours of clean power over a 20-year period.

PG&E also committed to purchasing an additional 1,000 megawatts of solar thermal power over the next five years.

FPL Group also committed to develop 500 megawatts of solar thermal power plants – at least 300 in Florida and 200 in California or other states.

These commitments amounted to a $4 billion support for solar thermal electricity.

These actions will eliminate over 36 million tons of CO2 emissions in California and neighboring states over the next 20 years.

They also show that solar thermal electricity can provide baseload power which is cost competitive with coal, in less time than a nuclear power plant could be built.

The CEO of FPL, Lewis Hay, told Reuters that he wants FPL to become the top solar energy produce in the US, just as it is currently the top wind power producer.

"Just as we started out being relatively small in wind power, as we built up expertise in wind and we were able to work with suppliers to drive down the cost, we hope to do the same thing in solar," Mr Hay said.

And to those renewable skeptics like our own PM who say that solar is too expensive for consumers, Mr Hay says "The costs will blend into rates to the extent that it's not going to be very noticeable."

Ausra Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer is Prof David Mills, an Australian researcher who moved to the US early this year to develop his technology further. According to the Ausra website, the name Ausra derives from an ancient word for the sunrise.

The Ausra story featured this week on the 7.30 Report, which pointed out that both Prime Minister, John Howard, and Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull have rejected solar technology as a nice, easy soft answer that can't be used to run a modern economy.  No wonder Prof David Mills moved to California.