Nuclear for Australia | Dick Smith

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Dick Smith is an Aussie entrepreneur and Australian of the Year in 1989.  A famous adventurer and famous environmentalist. Now the Chair of “Nuclear for Australia”, the lobbying outfit set up by the young and brilliant Will Sheckel. 

This is the ad Dick took out: 

The length of time it takes for nuclear is irrelevant. We just need to start with the program. 

The cost of nuclear is irrelevant. Other countries way poorer than Australia -- like Pakistan and Bangladesh -- are going nuclear. Do we imagine they can do it, but we can’t? Over the lifetime of a nuclear power station, which can be up to a century, the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) supplied will be lower than than provided by intermittent wind and solar, backed by battery storage and having to be re-newed every 20 to 25 years (wind turbines and solar panels last only about that long, vs nuclear which has a history of lasting up to 100 years). 

See my “The case for Nuclear”. 

We need baseload power. If it’s not going to come from coal, it has to come from nuclear.