Dear Alan B.,

I'm more than happy to go nuclear power generation providing they build the power plants in someone else's backyard. How about a solid LNP electorate like ScuMo's seat of Cook or in Barnaby Joyce's neighbourhood? Would anyone like to second that? Do you reckon we could get the thumbs up from ScuMo on that proposition? No, I didn't think so!

Hi Noel Wauchope

Well done for another excellent and timely article.

It frustrates civil engineers no end that:

- they can't build hugely expensive large reactors or

- base their careers on never commercially proven SMR technology.

Mr Opinion is right that no politician wants to lose political office by building a reactor in his/her electorate or state.

Even little SMRs serving Birdsville etc would create huge political and judicial controversy (costing 100s millions in lawyer/politician/environmental/security official pay) lasting decades.

Terrorists could easily blow up SMRs before arrival on the delivery trucks or inplace. All the safety measures of an SMR will count for little when a truck bomb or large hijacked aircraft turns an SMR into a radioactive fragment spreading "dirty bomb" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_bomb

Noel,

Showing a cherry picked selection of submissions that agree with you proves nothing.

While coal continues to provide base load the argument is moot. However, as the % of renewables increases and correspondingly so does the price of electricity and its unreliability, then the mood will change.

In reply to "Shadow Minister" - those were not a "cherry picked" selection of submissions. They were ALL of the submissions published up to that date, and my article was a faithful summary of the views presented.

Noel,

Considering that you only submitted snippets from some of the submission combined with your history of misrepresentation and the tiny sample (38) I would find any claim that this represented the main body of the public as absurd.

to Shadow Minister. Not a "tiny sample" It was all of the submissions published by that date. Themes were chosen as those most mentioned. Short quotations supplied that best expressed each writer's concern. On this occasion I was careful not to express my own personal views.