'Renewables versus nuclear': Chris Kenny sits down with entrepreneur Dick Smith

Sky News host Chris Kenny is joined by Entrepreneur Dick Smith to discuss the “renewables versus nuclear” debate.
“Let’s get back to the renewables versus nuclear power debate,” Mr Kenny said.
Entrepreneur Dick Smith has taken out an advertisement in The Australian newspaper today stating ‘Our Prime Minister and Energy Minister have been misled by the CSIRO and AEMO.

[@davehad-enough2369]

There's more wisdom and knowledge in Dick Smith's little finger than Albanese has in his whole grotesque body. Sadly the arrogance and ignorance of Bowen and Albanese will override any common sense or facts. Thanks Mr Smith. A true Aussie.

[@devilsadvocate2548]

Just not when he is flying his helicopter around. Then he lives up to his name!

[@lukeclifton4392]

@@devilsadvocate2548You can be guaranteed that most helicopter flights Dick has taken, are for something greater than just personal transport. Not only funded by Dick himself, but to learn or investigate the truths of our nation. Trying to argue his privately funded use of a helicopter against “being green”, is moronic when you consider the number of wealthy individuals who do the same, but for nothing other than a “wealthy” form of transportation.

[@Philip-hv2kc]

The aviation community know Dick to not be ostentatious. Also a philanthropic individual who quietly helps people.

[@BelloBudo007]

This brings home loud and clear the difference between those who have worked in their own successful business and made real decisions along the way, compared to people whose first job was in politics. How the hell would Albo have a clue about real life, business decisions, how to negotiate, tale to people who don't think like he does, etc? And that's why we have as our PM, someone who is thick & useless.

[@alancotterell9207]

May God be with you, True Aussie !

[@iambirp]

Dick Smith is an absolute legend

[@PaulSmith-ss6zm]

100%

[@HaydenSpence-bx3zv]

Labour's plan is absolutely crazy! Nuclear power is the right way forwards for Australia.

[@tonyheron3228]

Hope the royalties on our coal and gas can pull us out of economic casim our government is going down bring on an election !

[@owenroberts1168]

I wish Dick Smith was our prime minister. The country would be better off.

[@rob6543]

He a good man and love’s Australia

[@YvonneCrean]

Said that decades ago 😊

[@georgenoble9950]

Dick Smith for PM Will never happen Dick is a professional Successful business man Would not enter politics Imagine Going to work Across from your desk Adam Bandt Dick could not work with A let me be polite Ignoramus looking at him Some people in this country vote for ADAM BANDT LORD HELP US

[@rob6543]

@@georgenoble9950 well you’re not wrong there I’d would lose my job in the first 5 minutes Bandt is the only person I know that started at the bottom and went down in the world,I would really love to see how the green voters live surely they couldn’t live in houses ,hate the country they live in

[@ahmedxr8]

Dick Smith is a smart gentleman who deserves to be a Prime Minister instead we have a Donkey.

[@reneesmith5619]

Dick Smith has more brains than Chris Bowen and Albanese combined.

[@seonggi-hun7482]

Agree with all said. Renewables are not carbon free. You need to use energy to make solar panel and wind turbines. So you have a sunk cost in terms of carbon that will never be recovered. Nuclear is far better if you’re serious about clean energy

[@johngeier8692]

The carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels are largely beneficial. Benefits include greening of the planet with increased agricultural yields (main effect), reduced winter heating costs, fewer deaths from hypothermia and postponement of the next glacial maximum. Net Zero is economically destructive delusional insanity. We need to abandon this nonsense and simply use the most economical energy resources available.

[@Aussie-Nan]

Don’t worry we are selling our coal to China for their power stations so they can make the solar panels, apparently we only care about the air in this half of the world 😅

[@Philip-hv2kc]

Solar and wind can be ideal at the individual household level to ease costs . A claimed lifetime of thirty years for wind and solar installations is extremely optimistic. Some blades have required replacement after two years and some issues have appeared for the reliability of the mechanical components of the wind generators..

[@Dave-un7fh]

I agree with you, but it's not a good argument. Hydro, nuclear etc, have huge initial costs. Cement manufacturer is energy hungry. However, the life expectancy of solar, wind and tidal is only a fraction of the "base" suppliers. 10 year old wind turbines in the North Sea are crumbling to pieces.

[@alanw8552]

Excellent Dick Smith. Nuclear energy is the obvious solution to Labor's idiotic renewables.

[@gryphus64]

Thank you Dick Smith some reason in this issue! We do not want our rare raptors, parrots, birds, bats and microbats killed by turbines, the tree kangaroos, flying possums and koalas who will have their habitat destroyed! We don't want these renewable projects!

[@Carbonalternatives]

@@gryphus64 nearly 3,000,000,000 animals were killed or displaced by the 2019-2020 climate change driven fires. Feral cats are far more lethal than renewable energy sources. Your argument doesn’t make sense.

[@MrJohndl]

Carbon is irrelevant. Energy needs to be 24/7. Reliable. Safe. Nuclear ticks the boxes. It doesn't matter how much it costs.

[@ThatGuy-ze5kk]

if carbon is irrelevant (i agree), then even nuclear is a waste of money... just stick with coal!

[@bobthebomb1596]

@@ThatGuy-ze5kk Coal produces many more issues than just carbon,

[@LDU2U]

If Labor hadn't funnelled millions to time wasters, aka Ukraine, we would have built two nuclear plants by now.

[@paythepiper6283]

@@bobthebomb1596 Renewables have even more issues associated.

[@Philip-hv2kc]

​@@LDU2U helping Ukraine is more than help , it's also an investment. Much talent comes from Ukraine.

[@rule3039]

You can't have nuclear submarines and not nuclear power. Labor have lost their collective minds!!!

[@pwillis1589]

Why?

[@rule3039]

@@pwillis1589 you need to rethink that reply. But somehow I don't think you're capable of that?

[@pwillis1589]

@@rule3039 I asked you question and a simple one at that. You clearly are incapable of answering it. If you don’t understand why then that’s fine. Your reply is revealing but not for the initial reasons I asked my question.

[@lesblack413]

@@rule3039 Because he is a Labor supporter and a troll!!

[@YvonneCrean]

Did they ever have one?

[@francisbrown5469]

Renewables may work in area's where there is plenty of wind , So far the only area is our Parliament .

[@l4rrikin]

The decision to move away from coal will ruin Australia.

[@YvonneCrean]

Already happening

[@l4rrikin]

@@YvonneCrean well Aussies seem to have embraced global delusion..

[@matcole1975]

25 years too late. Nuclear power was always a good decision. Now the people are paying the price

[@TheAustralianbogan]

Nuclear power is best way as Dick Smith said, we have to think of our children and grand children,s future

[@brucejay1409]

Always enjoy hearing from Dick Smith....particularly in regard to immigration

[@barrycone8876]

Unfortunately common sense is knot that common,especially with the labour party

[@peterburke8650]

Australia needs a bigger nuclear work force..

[@ricky6864]

If we had honest politicians the citizens wouldn't be rorted by corporations foreign and domestic with our own resources

[@YvonneCrean]

We know 😡

[@alanrainey5022]

Love Dick Smith, amazing intelligence plus COMMON SENSE. 😂

[@newman653]

Dick Smith is a true blue dinky di Aussie patriot 🇦🇺

[@jeremyblackburn5740]

Glad to see Dick Smith is stepping up to keep the pollies honest... again.

[@rushelm8101]

As an Australian who has lived in Europe now for years, I can tell you that the wind generators which litter this once-beautiful countryside lie dormant for much of the time due insufficient wind. Many fail and the blades are feathered, rendering them useless at producing electricity, although the running costs, including rent and maintenance, continue. When they do operate, they kill birds, provide a serious hazard for crop dusters, and further, the installed base only contributes 9% of this country's energy production at full-tilt (which is very rare). They are costly to build and install; the land on which they are constructed must be either purchased or rented. In the case of terrestrial installations, the land is usually either farm or vacant land, and the investment's worth cannot be linked to the land's current utilization of energy production, it will appear as an asset on the balance sheet, but it will prove a poor investment simply due to its nature. Marine installations are even worse, they are extremely expensive to build and maintain due to the harsh environment. That expensive maintenance is also dangerous to maintenance workers, and the whole installation is hazardous to certain marine life. Wind generators have a limited life, and require regular costly and dangerous maintenance including lubricating oil replenishment. The end-of-life processes are not clearly defined, and as with their resource sapping and costly contruction, deconstruction is problematic and expensive. They are clearly not a viable solution even though the magic of "energy for free" is alluring. The politicians in Australia who are championing wind energy as a "magic wand solution" for energy production, are a ridiculously impractical group of under-education and under-informed people, they view this as an "experiment" at the taxpayer's expense and have not undertaken sufficient reseach on viability even though much data is now available. Don't go there!

[@Andre-xo4fb]

Well said.

[@rushelm8101]

@@Andre-xo4fb Thank you.

[@johngeier8692]

Thus far world governments have spent over 10 trillion dollars on renewable energy projects. Global carbon dioxide emissions have continued to increase. There are in effect 2 mass psychoses in operation in association with a massive fraud. The false and delusional belief that man’s effects on the Earth’s climate are significant and dangerous and the false and delusional belief that transitioning to non fossil fuel energy sources will be cheap and easy in association with the massive misappropriation of taxpayers money and resources into uneconomical and unreliable renewable energy projects. The whole futile and wasteful effort generates more carbon dioxide emissions. Australia needs to jump off this economically destructive bandwagon and withdraw from the ridiculous Paris Agreement and simply use the most economical energy resources available. Nuclear power plants should be legal in this country, however, new coal fired power plants should be built if they are cheaper.

[@chesterwilson9796]

As already stated: you have written well, provided specific facts, pointed out common problems already associated with Green energy installations and maintenance and their end of life issues. It would be wonderful if Mr Albanese and Mr Bowen would give undivided attention to this type of detail in their ideological forcing of such an ill equipped energy supply on Australia- somehow, I don't think that they will nor want to!

[@rushelm8101]

@@chesterwilson9796 Regarding the Left, ideology trumps facts yet again. I think what is tacit in your response, is that both Albanese and Bowen should consult those who possess actual facts, rather than those who fabricate to suit a practically unworkable solution. Let's hope that common sense prevails.

[@TheBison917]

love dicksmith he is a smart man.

[@edmurks236]

The amount of resources and energy to make all these wind farms is (and solar panels) unbelievable! no one costs that let alone the unbelievable damage to the environment.

[@mateverest8823]

It’s ok if the emissions and money go to China 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@Aussie-Nan]

Agree with Dick, there will be nothing left of this country under labour, and notice wind turbine caught on fire this week and couldn’t be put out, great for our next bushfire season.

[@_Sammy_J]

7-14 days battery storage. It can't work. Labor, the CSIRO & all the B-Grade media are using projection charts that show battery storage at less than 10% by 2050! That is crazy! Like trying to run an EV on a mobile phone battery.... One day in the future we will have to migrate to nuclear "with or without" choice. Wasting time is only making the future harder for us. We don't need SMR, we need large scale reactors. We sit on 1/3rd of the planets uranium & are stupid to not be taking advantage of it already.

[@user-xk2ky3kt4o]

A DON'T FEAR NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS AND EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT THE POWER GOES A LONG WAY AND CHEAPER TO RUN THAN RENEWABLES IN THE LONG RUN.BRING IT ON THEN .

[@olddog-fv2ox]

If labor doesn't engage with the nuclear proposition they will be evicted from the decisions of what type, where and what size

[@petermeggs951]

Is it me or should Dick Smith, become the prime minister of Australia......

[@oddball3675]

In the land of the bold and the sun-kissed plains, Stands a man with a vision, untamed by chains. Dick Smith, the entrepreneur, with a fortune to spare, Seeks truth in the energy debate, with a fierce, fiery glare. The government sings of wind and solar's might, But Dick sees through the fog, to a clearer light. Chris Bowen, with a smug smile, dismisses the call, But to Dick, it’s Bowen who's the clown in this brawl. In the papers today, Dick's voice rings loud, A self-funded ad, to cut through the crowd. “Our leaders are misled,” Dick boldly proclaims, By CSIRO and AEMO’s flawed games. “Wind and solar, with storage to boot, Are pricier than coal, and nuclear to boot.” A warning he gives, stark and profound, “Expect blackouts, when the sun’s not around.” He calls out to Bowen, with a question so clear, “Are you listening, or is your head in the sphere?” For between a fortune made through wisdom and grit, And a politician’s stance, often lacking in wit, It’s Dick’s words of caution that many will heed, A future of nuclear, perhaps what we need. Tonight, he joins Chris Kenny on air, To debate and discuss, in a clash that’s rare. So, decide for yourself, who holds the truth’s key, The savvy entrepreneur, or the political decree. In the heart of Australia, the energy fight's on, And Dick Smith’s resolve will not be outshone. OddBall

[@chrisjoyce6321]

If only Dick Had become prime minister. Legend.

[@AWilliams-m1u]

That needs to be Duttons mantra. Bangladesh has nuclear. They're poor. Brilliant

[@stevehewitt1151]

Bowen will probably claim that Bangladesh used to be rich until they built nuclear!

[@chesterwilson9796]

Well, one might say, that the way Australian 'leaders' are leading us now, we will be poor, all on the price of the Green energy mantra- so maybe then, we will be able to build nuclear power plants, following the suggested lead of A and B.

[@anthonyplayground1402]

High temp coal power can be used to burn waste, including plastic etc, vaporising gases ... without dangerous emissions .... so what excuse do we have for dumping rubbish and poisoning the ground water???

[@AndrewSmith-sd2pr]

100% we should be generating energy with our waste. Not burying it in the ground.

[@scottcox8559]

The biggest argument is the fact that the whole system only lasts 20 years, and then it needs to be replaced. Not to mention, it will all end up in a hole.

[@Philip-hv2kc]

Twenty years appears already to be wishful thinking.

[@jmcham1000]

Keep repeating after me....Albo and Chris are never wrong....Albo and Chris are never wrong....just keep going until the pain goes away

[@briananderson7285]

But Penny is ?

[@shaneburns4349]

Solar is terrific for roof tops, where the infrastructure is in place. Nuclear is better for high density industry parks connected to the municipal grid.

[@peternoakes4408]

Given the right conditions and a failure of a windmill, it will start a firestorm.

[@LLL-un7js]

I don't understand how the government thinks clearing land of trees and bush along with agriculture land to make way for solar and wind farms is helping the environment. It just doesn't make sense.

[@robm1415]

It is so frustrating that people put their own spin on a story. Dick Smith makes sense to me, but how can CSIRO be telling the government the opposite. There is only one truth, yet Labor seems to see it very differently.

[@user-dv9ur7su2v]

Dick Smith, one of the all time great Australians. Payman, take note.

[@johnnykkkk]

Dick Smith thank you for bringing absolutely some sense to the Nuclear debate. Labor are about destroying Australians, the environment and our future.

[@bruceblunderfield5431]

Imagine trying to replace every solar panel in Australia yet alone the increase in energy requirements in 20 years? 😅

[@joelG1272]

Medium Wind Turbines (100 kW to 1 MW): Foundation size: 10-15 meters in diameter. Concrete volume: 100-300 cubic meters. Concrete weight: 240-720 tonnes. So x 1000 wind turbines = 720,000 tones of concrete producing the cement required for 720 tonnes of concrete would emit approximately 81,000 kg (or 81 tonnes) of CO2. x 1000 =81000 tones of c02 This estimate includes the emissions from the cement production process but does not account for additional emissions from transporting materials and mixing the concrete. Then there is the steel, and fiber glass. Renewables are not very green, they have a short life span, green energy is about multinational corporations making money. The governments talk about trickle down economy, and this is also true for political parties, donations, jobs after politics insider trading. China is building coal fired power station, and 26 new nuclear power stations they are not that stupid to rely on wind and solar the pedal to they rest of the world. Germany is building new LNG terminals. Germany even classified natural gas as bridging source of energy and most likely will be around for 20 years to come.

[@ShaneMcGrath.]

You still need oil for those wind turbines and it needs to be changed yearly!

[@paythepiper6283]

Coal mine companies have to return the land back to as near as it was prior to operations. Do wind and solar factory operators have to do the same?

[@Philip-hv2kc]

No they don't

[@Dave-un7fh]

Also huge problems with wind not being able to sustain effective network frequency. ie 60Hz without A LOT of monitoring.

[@drwinklepecker9298]

Dick needs to campaign until we get this done (Dick would make an excellent PM). Meanwhile - what becomes of the used batteries from Dick's examples - Nissan Leaf and garage/solar battery? They are extremely toxic and nobody would willingly take the risks to recycle them (too dangerous - too expensive - too many toxins that can't be disposed of). In the future, aquifers will be poisoned from EV and storeage batteries being illegally dumped.

[@TheFleetz]

Bowen and Albanese have their heads in the sand. They won’t even entertain a formal discussion on nuclear viability. Would love to see a debate between Bowen and Smith. Look at Bowen’s previous portfolios, no wonder he has been labelled blackout Bowen with this one. Dick Smith has always spoken up where Australia’s best interests are at stake. He puts his money where his mouth is. A true an Australian who needs to be listened to.

[@rodwilkinson5682]

Well done Chris,keep pushing the environment,Bowen seems to ignore this issue,

[@paulgraham4790]

And don't forget the bushfire when turbines blow up, or the bird kill, or the dead ground under them, or the noise.

[@GlenDoer-gq1rs]

Wind farms require electricity to run dehumidifiers to stop moisture getting into the electronics.power to start the turbines turning.. This power most likely come from power stations.

[@ivanf6938]

There should not be any new renewables projects approved that doesn't supply constant 24/7 power. If that needs batteries to make it happen that is their cost. If we only needed intermittent supply we could do that with rooftop solar. Or consumer wind generation. Throwing up more grid scale mirrors and fans is a race to the bottom.

[@jiminverness]

All those miles and miles and miles of wind turbines...and each one needing to be replaced every 20 years or less.

[@patrickflaherty3253]

The environmental damage of these wind farms and solar farms is alarming! 😳

[@johngeier8692]

Wind has a low energy density and wind power is centuries out of date. Wind farms only exist due to massive taxpayer funded subsidies. They make no economic sense. They are a colossal waste of taxpayers money and resources (including coal, and copper) in addition to being a blight on the countryside. Solar panels are only economical as a supplement in sunny areas between the 35th parallels. Even in favourable areas there is a major mismatch between peak supply and peak demand. The massive misappropriation of taxpayers money and resources into uneconomical and unreliable renewable energy projects needs to be stopped. We need to withdraw from the ridiculous Paris Agreement and simply use the most economical energy resources available.

[@tigerphid9677]

Windmills and solar panels should never be built because they contravene the fundamental law called Economies of Scale, which means that big things are efficient and little things are inefficient. That is why most people shop at supermarkets instead of little convenience stores. Or why we buy cars made in giant factories rather than being built one at a time in individual shops. And thus one centralized nuclear plant is vastly more efficient at delivering electricity than thousands of windmills producing the same amount of power.

[@JimTelfser]

if all the coal power station where responsible for less than 1% inthe past: what will be if we had modern ap to date new coal power plant, and at the same time save jobs in this industry? I never seen any one talking about it. Am I the only one still tinking strait ?

[@Ricky-vd4oq]

Never thought i would ever hear myself say this, but i like Dick, you dont need to be an expert but years of success in his lifes experience helps. Patriot.

[@wayneyoung146]

Honestly gets you in trouble Dishonest gets you more money in pockets of politicians

[@chrisgreaves148]

What a great person,wish he was given more prime time on TV ,RADIO ,and the papers . what this bloody labour government is pushing will cripple Australia financially for ever 👍👍🍺🍺

[@olderthandirt7023]

thank god someone else has the facts on Nuclear, Micro Nuclear etc Dick, I am sick of labor's bullshit on renewables & power. Hey Dick, my wife's boss just forked out $24,000 on a new battery for her work 2016 Nissan Leaf, I can't see anyway to justify that spend, granted its a larger battery but its a hell of a lot of money down the drain in my opinion.

[@user-ne1hg3pi2b]

I wonder if main stream media will interview Dick Smith.

[@YvonneCrean]

We need people like this very smart man in politics 🥴

[@ngaugefouroaksstreetstatio6932]

What about the maintenance on these turbines??

[@peterkirgan2921]

Hi Kenny I don't know why they just don't refurbish the existing coal plants & stop sending coal to China???

[@paulchilds9137]

Kenny talks about environmental damage to bushland in queensland from the building of wind farms. This cannot compare with one of the worlds worst destructions of native bushland, also in Queensland, that the Nationals did. It was not hectares for a wind farm but 1000s of hectares over whole regions, for grazing cattle. It was done by lining up multiple bulldozers in an area with huge chains between them. The bulldozers drove for ward and the suspened chain ripped trees, shrubs everything from ground. Australia met its first greenhouse gas reduction target only because the Labor Party stopped this practice..

[@milosradovanovic5280]

Dick Smith is right, definitely 🇦🇺❤️💯🌎👍🐖🇺🇸🤗 1:31

[@MarkForbes-dr4ie]

Labor and greens are fcked

[@DBS6567]

nuclear is the only feasible option, not only does it have a reletivily small footprint compared to renewables. but apart from the construction nuclear is Co2 free. so it's the only option.

[@President_NotSure]

you will go nowhere and do nothing

[@michaelchilds3305]

Dick smith didn't mention offshore winds which is very reliable and consistent. And the fact batteries will continue to get cheaper. Also many countries rely on 100% renewable or at least close to 100% if you include countries that rely on Hydro power as part of the Renewable energy mix, another fact that he doesn't mention. Electric car batteries have improved a lot since the nissan leaf electric car came out, which is not air cooled, compared to most new electric cars these days. Air cooled electric cars, especially with LFP batteries probably last around 500, 000 to 1 million kms or more, compared to more like 100, 000km or less for old nissan leaf cars, like the one he owns/ or owned.

[@geob8172]

FREE ENERGY !

[@tonyf7997]

I have said it for years, Dick Smith would make a great Prime Minister and steer our country to being the lucky country once again! It is all about balance and using a range of power sources to ensure all bases are covered! Nuclear, coal/gas turbines, wind, solar and hydro! Australia can lead the globe on this but with current politicians beating their chest they fail daily at protecting and making Australia a superpower !

[@BarbaraHambleton]

I agree that the opposition needs to step it up now and cost it and really sell this to the people. I don’t think they’re saying enough

[@myownperson8145]

This would not have happened on Bob Brown's watch. He was all about the environment

[@rickwood8719]

Surely a mix of all options would be better to meet future power needs 🤷‍♂️

[@danieltynan5301]

The current coal generators should just used to fill in the gaps in summer and winter..... The emissions would be tiny.

[@kittykat5523]

That graphic is what needs to be shown. That is disgusting, all thise turbines clustered and destroying all land around it

[@mawhim]

According to data compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, there are seven countries already at, or very, near 100 percent renewable power: Iceland (100 percent), Paraguay (100), Costa Rica (99), Norway (98.5), Austria (80), Brazil (75), and Denmark (69.4)

[@Imagineering100]

Yes 100%

[@ronaldmusk4996]

Why do we have to wait on progressing nuclear for our Energy, when we can have nuclear tomorrow for our submarines ?

[@JenE3377]

The Borumba pumped hydro in the Mary Valley must be investigated for the environmental impacts and huge cost on taxpayers. Lithium mining devastation must be exposed. Nuclear needs to be initiated now

[@windsong3wong828]

They are both worth looking into. Nuke power is great if it can be safely done. If nuke power is badly done…..look at Fukushima. $100 bil and counting. A safe nuke reactor is the holy grail.

[@jaskirchner]

2 problems looking at fukishima as an example. It was built on fault line and at Ocean level or very close to it. It was also not very well maintained. The reason fukishima went into melt down is the fuel to run the back up cooling generator was empty. So that is 3 reasons for that nuclear plant to fail. In Australia we have very few fault lines and non of our power generation is built that close to the ocean. So non of those reasons apply.

[@Berserker978]

​@@jaskirchner You fail to mention it was hit by a Sunami.

[@jaskirchner]

​@@Berserker978yeah I thought that was the obvious. But I should have mentioned it as the reason for not being made that close to ocean level. 😊

[@windsong3wong828]

@@jaskirchner Somebody must be really negligent or greedy in Japan. Greed is a powerful inducement. Let’s hope nobody else faced the same sheet.

[@thepontiff6031]

Live 5 km from turbines in Tasmania, haven’t turned in a week due to weather and forecast is same for next week

[@PaulSmith-ss6zm]

Thanks albo chis Bowen and the rest of Labor and the greens for NOTHING!

[@amz33894]

On every metric nuclear is unbeatable. Australia will be forced to adopt nuclear power to support the AUKUS sub deal if it ever goes ahead.

[@PaulSmith-ss6zm]

Nuclear power reactors is a winner 🏆🏆🏆🏆👍

[@simoncarroll-we3hg]

Can everyone spell the labor party correctly !!!!!!! It’s labor not labour

[@kymlevi2746]

It won’t be good for the indigenous land titles if we lean towards nuclear there won’t be be as many wind turbines.

[@gotthesinglelife]

And talking about waste what happens to the green waste after end of life use and who pays to clean them up. Because with huge amounts of wind/solar without a comprehensive recycling program then all the rare earth minerals and toxic will just end up in landfill or shipped to another country to deal with like plastics and e waste.

[@user-yf5cd2ep6y]

If only. If only a person of Dick’s cerebral alacrity were our prime minister. If only. But, alas, not.

[@jefftysoutube]

Pakistans first nuclear plant started in 1965. Today nuclear accounts for just 10'/, of their power. Bangladesh is yet to see any power from it's nuclear plant that began construction in 2017 . Seven years after planning started in 2010. Maybe Dick Smith should find better examples to sway us sceptics.

[@garysheppard4028]

I deeply admire Dick Smith. He is a legend. But I would reply that decisions such as these, with such long term and consequential import for the nation, cannot be left solely to politicians to decide. We need a robust appraisal by people who are experts in their fields and let them present their evidence to something like a royal commission to evaluate. Get the foremost experts in the fields of nuclear, renewables etc together to get to the truth. Present all the evidence and let an independent arbiter come to a conclusion based on evidence, rather than political ideology and opinions from the commentariat who are deeply in the clutches of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Then let the government go with whatever technology truely comes out on top. Leaving it up to decisions made by politicians is a recipe for disaster. Labor is dead set on renewables. Dutton is dead set on nuclear. Having announced 7 large scale nuke plants even though last year he said he would be against the idea of large scale nuke plants. I smell political opportunism and opposition tactics rather than a true belief at play here. I wouldn't trust any politician as far as I could throw them.

[@josa9902]

Please get someone to look at the use of ethanol in fuel. The exhaust on these cars is causing a huge amount of carbon pollution. Stick your finger in the a col;d exhaust to see. Can we go back to using gas.

[@retrofitter]

Poor old Dick's battery cost him money because he wasn't able to trade the energy on the wholesale electricity market. The Hornsdale Power Reserve (the tesla battery) in SA paid for itself in 2 years. The Waratah Super Battery that is being built on the site of the old Munmorah coal station will be just as economical while saving the consumer money. If you do your research you will find many wind , solar , transmission line projects, a few pumped hydro projects and gas Peaker plant projects. I haven't seen any coal power station or nuclear plant projects because they are uneconomical and won't compete financially with existing projects. If you want to see the future look at how California's grid is is being powered.

[@johntomasini3916]

Respect for Dick Smith, a great Australian. I disagree with him on Nuclear energy, there will always be costs to produce Energy, which ever way you do it. Nuclear will take decades to get working, do we stop Solar, Hydro, Wind Turbine and Geothermal production while we wait, that would be blatantly stupid, what we have now must continue. Who is going to finance Nuclear power plants, it will be a huge Capital investment, more financial pressure on Australians.

[@mawhim]

No, should be Gas, wind , solar + storage.

[@Carbonalternatives]

Talk of the environmental impact of renewables while not insignificant is nothing compared with the catastrophic effects of recent climate driven fires. 2019-2020 fires burnt 243,000 square kilometres. Dick smith is an Australian legend but he’s talking to the wrong people and has been hoodwinked by right wing politicians. Electrify everything and eliminate the dependence on fossil fuels.

[@Berserker978]

WindTurbines are Firestarters.

[@Carbonalternatives]

@@Berserker978 please provide documentation that backs up your statement

[@user-pj5ub5cp9k]

What type of nuclear reactors, how much will it cost, and when will they come online?

[@Berserker978]

Got to be better than giant firestarters. Dweeb.

[@RogueElementMkII]

There's around 650 cubic metres of concrete, and 85 tonnes of steel reinforcement at the base of each wind turbine. Where will all of this concrete come from, and how much will it cost?

[@alanw8552]

There is a mountain of information provided by countries far smarter than Australia re nuclear energy. Do some research & you will be enlightened.

[@user-pj5ub5cp9k]

@@alanw8552 What type of nuclear reactors, how much will it cost, and when will they come online? You're avoiding answering my questions. Is it because you don't know? I'll ask just one question to make it easier for you. What company is going to build the nuclear reactors?

[@user-pj5ub5cp9k]

@RogueElementMkII The costs are outlined in the GenCost report. No one ever said that lowering CO2 would be cheap or easy. I have no problem with nuclear power ethically. I do have a problem with the numbers.

[@user-km9vs4qv6q]

Labor is not working for Australia but the tax payer is paying for everything they want