Exploding the myths of green nuke power

Newcastle Herald
Thursday 23/11/2006, Page: 9

It's time to set out the facts of wind energy, says Dominique La Fontaine.

WHERE do you start to refute an article ("Sorry, but wind and solar not sustainable", Colin Keay, Herald 16/11) criticising wind energy, especially when it contains the outrageous claim that "clean green nuclear reactors are the only practical non-polluting option"? As with so many proponents of nuclear power, Mr Keay fails to answer several crucial questions:

• How long would it take to establish even one nuclear power station in Australia? (At least 10-15 years.)
• How much would it cost? (No one can give a definite figure.)
• How much pollution is created in the mining and processing of nuclear fuel?
• Where will the waste be disposed?
• Who will insure such a facility?
• How will we will manage the associated security risks?
• What do we do for electricity once the uranium runs out? (Estimated about 30 years, but less if nuclear power is widely adopted.)
• When, how and at what cost will we decommission the nuclear reactors once they reach the end of their operating lives?

So, while we wait years for the promise of nuclear power, let alone the new breeder reactor designs mentioned, which appear to be little more than a pipedream at this stage, we could be doing something right now to reduce our carbon emissions by creating emission-free energy.

Meanwhile, Mr Keay trots out the tired old lies about wind energy, concerning things like intermittency, power output and bird impact, which have repeatedly been refuted around the world.

Wind energy is the fastest growing energy source worldwide - about 28 per cent a year for at least the past decade - for good reason.

Here are some facts:

• It produces no pollution.
• It consumes no fuel.
• The energy taken to build and install a wind turbine is paid back within its first six months of use.
• Wind farms provide guaranteed income to landholders who can still use their land for farming.
• Wind energy helps to diversify our energy supplies.
• Wind will never run out.
• On top of that, a wind turbine can be removed, leaving almost no trace, once its working life is over.
  

The claim about intermittency betrays a lack of understanding of the electricity distribution system.

The electricity grid is designed to manage constant variations in supply from a range of sources and just as many changes in demand. The addition of wind power merely introduces one more variable to an infinitely variable system.

As for impacts on birds, Australian studies have shown these numbers to be very low, but regardless, the impacts of climate change will be devastating on all species if we fail to take action.

Charles Meredith from Biosys Research which carried out the Federal Government's own study of the proposed Bald Hills wind farm in Victoria, said in August: "I think we know a lot more about bird-strike than we did and I think we know enough to design and build wind farms in a bird-appropriate way." Mr Keay claims Denmark is building no new wind farms. On the contrary, the Danes are replacing their wind turbines with newgeneration models, producing more power more efficiently than ever.

Why he mentions last month's European blackout in relation to wind energy is another mystery. It was caused by the shut-off of a major power cable across a river to let a ship pass safely. It had nothing whatsoever to do with wind power.

With a good geographic spread of wind farms and improved wind forecasting, wind energy is proving more than ever to be a reliable, dependable, cost effective part of the world's energy mix. Europe is a prime example.

US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said recently: "We want to change the way we power our homes and offices so that renewable energy someday accounts for as much as 20 per cent of our national generating capacity." If the true costs of pollution were included, electricity from burning coal would already be more expensive than wind energy, so economic arguments simply don't stack up.

Wind energy is not the only answer to our energy needs, but it must be part of the answer. It is available right now, the costs are known and there is no fuel or pollution to worry about.

You will be waiting a longtime to hear those claims applied to nuclear power.

Dominique La Fontaine is chief executive of the Australian Wind Energy Association (Auswind).