Uranium is not in the MRRT as far as I know. It's time we had a proper adult debate in Australia about nuclear power. I used to be vehemently against it, but have gradually turned around over the years to the point that I am now in favour of it.
We have shitloads (a technical term) of Uranium and one of the largest uranium mines in the world, exporting a huge amount of it overseas. It would crazy and hypocritical of us to not make use of it. We also have one of the most geologically stable land masses in the world, making storage of the waste products actually fairly viable.
With the development of new reactor technologies (Gen IV and V), this stuff is getting safer and safer. The green technologies, such as wind and solar are just not going to get us there, especially when it comes to base load power. We currently rely on coal for this and if we are dinkum about getting rid of it, then nuclear has to be at least considered.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_IV_reactor
Thorium looks like being the next big thing in nukes, and is a lot safer than uranium. Guess who has a large amount of that particular material sitting under the ground? Australia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium_fuel_cycle
Some things to ponder:
- The US Naval fleet relies on floating reactors on many of their ships/subs. They've proven to be very safe.
- Sweden and France produce upwards of 70% of their power through nukes (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_Sweden and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_France)
- Denmark is routinely put up as the green power capital of the world and fair enough, they use a lot of wind energy. But guess where nearly half of it comes from: coal.