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Australia's Future Power Sources Won't Include Nuclear - PM

CANBERRA -(Dow Jones)- The future sources for Australia's power needs include coal, natural gas and a range of renewables rather than nuclear, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Wednesday.

Australia's challenge for power generation, as the world's biggest exporter of seaborne coal, is to invest in "clean coal" technology that captures and stores carbon and to develop the vast array of gas sources available including using liquefied natural gas onshore, he said.

As well, Australia needs to invest in renewable energy sources including large-scale solar and wind, to meet the government's target of sourcing 20% of its power needs from renewable sources by 2020, he said.

"This is the future for Australia, other countries will reach their own decisions" about their sources of energy, Rudd said in an interview on radio 4BC when asked about developing nuclear power domestically.

Australia sells uranium overseas because countries such as France don't have the same range of options for sourcing power as Australia does, he said.

Rudd also argued against nuclear power on the basis of cost, the relatively modest amount of power that modeling suggests would be available from this source and the difficulty of locating a nuclear power station near water.

A report published late in 2006 by the previous Liberal-National Coalition government suggested Australia should seriously consider the creation of a domestic nuclear power industry.

The report by the Uranium Mining, Processing and Nuclear Energy Taskforce found the number of nuclear reactors in Australia could total 25 by the middle of this century.

Former Prime Minister John Howard said at the time that a domestic nuclear power industry had to part of Australia's future.

-By Ray Brindal, Dow Jones Newswires; 612-6208-0902; ray.brindal@dowjones.com

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  11-03-091959ET
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