Australia is certainly "absurd" when it comes to energy and prices, the biggest absurdity of all being the paranoia about the cheapest and most efficient source of energy, coal. We have oodles of the stuff, which, until the climate lunatics took over, made us the most competitive country in the world. But this is just one of the many indicators that Australia is rooted.

Thank you. A new voice explaining the realities is most welcome. This needs emphasising:

“One of the most glaring omissions in the Australian energy debate has been nuclear power. The anti-nuclear movement led by the Greens has waged a successful campaign over the years based on fear, intimidation and lies, building up this power source as monster in the minds of the public. This is in stark contrast to the actual evidence. Nuclear power does not emit air pollution and is able to isolate its small amount of waste from the environment. Thanks to the energy density of uranium, nuclear power plants require a small amount of land area. Finally, contrary to popular belief, nuclear power is one of the safest forms of energy, with one of the lowest ‘death by Terawatt hour’ rates of any power source.”

A new open access paper, ‘Nuclear power learning and deployment rates; disruption and global benefits forgone’ http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/12/2169 , explains the benefits forgone as a consequence of the disruption, since about 1967, of a transition from fossil fuels to nuclear power. It confirms your point about nuclear being the safest way to generate electricity and gives figures for deaths per TWh by energy source. It also references Daubert and Moran on ‘the origins, goals and tactics of the anti-nuclear protest movement’. The Notes in Appendix B answer relevant points often raised by those who have only the common perceptions of nuclear power; in particular see: V, VIII, IX, XII.

Australia will need to wait until Turnbull has gone.

He's the 10 year Plan Man whose promises are so far in the future (like Snowy 2.0's 8 years) that nothing he selects to promise counts.

Australia's "Energy Policy" seems to be more about Federal Government standup arguments with States (eg. South Australia) than any progress.

Meanwhile electricity solutions rely on private industry concurence. The present energy shortages mean higher prices and profits for energy producers. So the producers do not want an new energy solutions that threatens their profits.

As the energy producers are from the Big End of Town they can control Turnbull and his Liberal Party's Non-policies.

We've had some form of RET for nearly 20 years yet non land use emissions keep rising
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2018/jan/09/australias-emissions-are-rising-its-time-for-this-government-to-quick-pretending
That has added billions to power bills or taxes in different ways. Enthusiasts insist electricity will get cheaper and more reliable but simple facts suggest otherwise. They appear to have several state premiers and key federal politicians lapping it up.

Another myth is that fabulous future efficiency gains mean we will need less electricity. That flies in the face of several trends... air conditioning now becoming essential, the prospect of millions of electric cars, strong population growth and desalination. A new approach will be needed to solve all this, not subsidised and quota mandated renewables. How long can we keep kidding ourselves?

I think Australia should be an early customer for light water SMRs located on old coal stations. When the technology is available we should re-use some of the spent fuel in 4th generation nuclear. BTW my hunch is that hydro is letting too much water out of the dams if 2018 is going to be dry.

Great analysis, and spot in identifying the clueless and gutless nature of the entire political establishment.

We have as ttbn has alluded to, heaps of coal! But his claims that it's our cheapest source of energy founded exclusively on a coal enthusiast's ideological imperatives, not the facts!

Nuclear is the answer, not just any nuclear but thorium.

Thorium is the most energy dense material on the planet! And used in a walk away safe, molten salt, thorium reactor. able to power a 350 MW reactor, with just one ton of three or four times more abundant thorium fuel, for the operational life of the reactor. (100 years?)

Even as a uranium fueled 350 MW reactor burns 2551 tons of vastly more expensive, enriched uranium, during its 50 year life?

The advantages of molten salt are many, the principle one being, as the reaction hots up the molten salt expands, it forces the nuclear atoms further apart, automatically slowing the reaction. And as that occurs the medium cools allowing contraction and greater activity again.

Meaning this self regulating reactor operates in modest waves and at normal atmospheric pressure. Massively reducing construction costs!

It will also burn other folks nuclear waste extracting massive unspent energy! And as other nations pay us annual billions to bury their waste for them.

But only after we've reprocessed it to remove the truly massive unspent energy and reduce the half life to just 300 years. Producing virtually free energy as we do so! And clean, safe, ultra cheap, carbon free energy into the bargain. And turbocharge the economy as part of the package!

Moreover we can do the same with weapons grade plutonium.

Because thorium is fertile, not fissile, it can't be used to make a thorium bomb nor can a molten salt thorium powered reactor be used to make plutonium.

Yes some of the fissile products created in a thorium reactor could be used in some sort of thermonuclear device. But only with extreme difficulty and in a doomsday scenario. And then it won't matter where we get our energy from!
Alan B.

'politicians and policy makers need to find the courage and conviction'....must be talking about another country not yet discovered by the known world..... and he sure as hell can't be expecting Australian politicians to find that which they know not of.
Parliaments would do better to consist of 75% ex servicemen having served at least 5 years in the defence forces....not the mealy mouthed sleazes we currently have.
I'll grant some have an idea of what they would like to do, but that doesn't last long when confronted with self serving indolence of greater numbers