Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has joined the list of Australian leaders -- including Prime Minister John Howard and
Brendan Nelson, the minister for education, science and training -- calling for Australia to "[take] the path to nuclear power generation."
Downer said Australia's substantial uranium exports were already being used to generate 2 per cent of the world's electricity production, making Australia deeply entwined in nuclear energy, particularly in the east Asian region.
Heavily coal-dependent, Australia has no electricity generation through nuclear power.
... But Australia held the world's largest uranium reserves, enabling the country to make a major contribution to global energy production, Mr Downer said.
"The plain reality is that the growing demand for energy worldwide, and in our own region, will be satisfied in part by nuclear power generation," he said.
... "In the 21st century, the responsible position is to recognise that nuclear power has an important place in the overall global energy mix."
The foreign minister reprimanded anti-nuclear groups for "irresponsibly" exploiting safety concerns:
Mr Downer urged those confronting global environmental challenges to "avoid pseudo-science and doomsday scenarios".
"Nuclear power's clear benefits in greenhouse terms are causing many countries to reconsider some outdated prejudices," he said.
"The reality is that nuclear energy is the only established non-fossil fuel energy source capable of generating large amounts of baseload electricity without significant emissions of carbon dioxide."
Mr Downer said Australia's uranium exports allowed other countries to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.
"Countries using Australian uranium avoid CO2 emissions of the same magnitude as Australia's own CO2 emissions from all sources," he said.
Safety concerns about nuclear power were inaccurate perceptions of risks that were not backed up by facts, Mr Downer said.
"Anti-nuclear groups irresponsibly exploit these concerns to pursue their own mythology."
He also emphasized that Australia must continue to contribute to the impending global surge in nuclear power, even if it does not yet generate its own nuclear power:
Mr Downer said Australia would have a vital role to play with regard to the future of global nuclear power.
"As global demand for greenhouse-friendly nuclear power grows, global demand for uranium will also grow," he said.
"And as the holder of the world's largest uranium reserves, we have a responsibility to supply clean energy to other countries – even if, so far, we have chosen not to use nuclear energy ourselves."
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