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The Forum > Article Comments > Nuclear profits could cost us dear > Comments

Nuclear profits could cost us dear : Comments

By Christine Milne, published 7/4/2006

Who are we kidding? Directly or indirectly, Australian uranium will support China's nuclear weapons program.

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Maximus

I must say your view of humanity is extremley pessimistic.
I suppose the American abolisionisits were in it only for the profit, the allies in WWII and Nelson Mandela as well? Sure there was some self-interest involved im not denying that, but if everyone in the history of the planet had your doom and gloom view of the world we probably would have destroyed ourselves already.
Posted by Carl, Friday, 7 April 2006 6:37:38 PM
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Obviously there are few survivors here of the fifties, when we had a widespread fear of being nuked out of existence. Back then, people actually built themselves personal fallout shelters in their garden, primary schools held nuclear attack drills where the kids had to dive under their desks, and Canada had a nation-wide "Tocsin B" trans-Canada evacuation plan.

"I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah."

"But you try and tell the young people today that... and they won't believe ya'."

(apologies to Monty Python)

We had poor communications back then - no internet, no blogs, no CNN - and as a result, everbody feared the worst. After all, fear of the unknown is a very powerful emotion, and leads to all sorts of irrational behaviours.

Now, with the inexorable march of globalization and the ability to communicate ideas and news across the world at literally the speed of light, it is all out in the open.

The incentive to push the button is at its lowest historical point, and unlikely ever to move higher. There are too many economic interconnections, too real a possibility of the destruction being total rather than partial, and greater visibility of any arms programme development - heck, it won't be long before we can all do our own individual search for weapons of mass destruction using Google Earth.

And the fear of nuclear power is even more irrational, given the safety records of the coal and oil industries over time compared with nuclear power.

But it is all good righteous stuff for the we-know-what's-good-for-you brigade.
Posted by Pericles, Friday, 7 April 2006 7:08:44 PM
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Pericles
Such an optimist!

You don’t have to be a survivor of the fifties to recall the “widespread fear of being nuked”; I can recall a time in the early eighties where the possibility of nuclear destruction was topical and to me seemed very real.

You rationalize why we wouldn’t use nuclear weapons but fail to apply this same argument to their production. If those in power see the need for having nuclear weapons surely a day will come to use them? Human nature is what it is, we have always returned to warfare regardless of how horrific the last war was and used as a matter of course the best technology available, including nuclear weapons.

The realities of geological instability, governmental and corporate incompetence, corruption, human fallibility etc. make it very likely that the nuclear accidents of the past will continue; more nuclear reactors equal more accidents. The disastrous consequences of a nuclear accident illustrated at Chernobyl all but rule out for me nuclear energy in my backyard.

Solar is the real alternative to nuclear – for goodness sake the sun, wind and tides have been expending significant amounts of energy from the dawn of time and will no doubt see our little race out so why cant we choose the safe and sensible path of solar energy instead of the perilous path of nuclear energy?
Posted by pancho, Friday, 7 April 2006 9:31:39 PM
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The point is not the bombs. It is the price! You don't need to be a nuclear scientist to work out that the price of uranium is only going to go up. Unlike coal there is only a supply of uranium for 50 years or so of nuclear energy (at least that is what we are told).

That means that we could sell the uranium at a premium in 10 or 20 years time. Might pay some of the pensions of the greying population.
Posted by gusi, Saturday, 8 April 2006 3:21:33 AM
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No surprise here. The short sighted view prevails. The rich get richer at the expense of the poor.

So, Howard, sell your Australian uranium to China, but don't think for a minute that China is your friend.
Posted by Patty Jr. Satanic Feminist, Saturday, 8 April 2006 3:42:40 AM
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Patty Jr,when the poor learn about contraception and have the discipline to learn and work instead of practising lawlessness/corruption,they too will progress.

There is a price for everything and you don't make the poor rich on handouts.It is an evolutionary process experienced by the west and now it is China's and India's turn.

So let's dispense with the handwinging and look at practical solutions.
Posted by Arjay, Saturday, 8 April 2006 10:52:55 AM
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