Sydney - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has reiterated his opposition to nuclear power after luminaries from within his own Labor Party described it as an essential bridge to a non-carbon future. "On the question of nuclear, we believe that we have a huge range of energy options available to Australia beyond nuclear with which and through which we can respond to the climate change challenge," Rudd said when commenting on the call for a rethink by former state Labor leader Bob Carr.
"There is no other bridging technology to get us from this catastrophic burning of coal and oil into the era of cheap and infinite renewable power," Carr said of nuclear power.
Greens deputy leader Christine Milne said going nuclear would take longer than harnessing wind power or solar power.
"A bridging technology can only be useful if it can be brought on much faster than the final intended technology, and that is patently not the case with nuclear and renewables," she said in reference to Carr's call.
"We don't need a dirty, expensive and dangerous bridge when we can leap across to the other shore if we make the effort to do so."
All of Australia's three major political parties have now come out against the development of a nuclear power industry.
"We cannot envisage any circumstance under which Australia will have a nuclear power industry," opposition Liberal Party leader Brendan Nelson said earlier this year. "We have made it very clear that as far as Australia's future is concerned, there is no plan at all for a nuclear power industry."
Labor, which took over the government after November's general election, has always been opposed to nuclear power, which would threaten the jobs of 28,000 coal miners.
Nelson, who took over the party leadership from John Howard after November's defeat by Labor, expressed a view at variance with that of his predecessor.
Howard, prime minister for almost 12 years, had touted nuclear power as a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and commissioned a report which envisaged 25 nuclear power stations meeting a third of the nation's electricity demand by 2050.
