“We’re going to miss the bus” if we wait for nuclear, says new chief scientist
Australia’s top scientist faces a showdown with a future coalition government, casting doubt on the opposition’s plan to establish nuclear energy.
Oceanography professor and former CSIRO chief Tony Haymet has been named new Australian chief scientist, to provide independent advice and research to the federal government.
Prof Haymet, a former director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and chief of marine research at the CSIRO, said the appointment was a “job of a lifetime”.
But the chief scientist is concerned about a coalition proposal to establish seven nuclear power plants in Australia in the next decade using small modular reactors.
Prof Haymet said he backed a CSIRO report, which said the proposal did not provide the most effective solution for low-emissions energy, despite Opposition Leader Peter Dutton criticising the findings.
“If we wait until we perfect wave energy or nuclear fusion, or some other source of power, we’re going to miss the bus,” he said.
Prof Haymet said the nuclear industry needed to demonstrate it could build a reactor on time and ensure it operated safely.
But Dutton said he was not concerned by the chief scientist’s comments, noting other western countries had the energy source.