Dr. Smith weighs in...

As reported in the Border Mail.

In the linked article, ANSTO Executive Director, Dr. Ian Smith, does a good job of refuting a letter from a fellow reader.

To supplement these statements, I’ve done some quick searches to find additional detail.

Information on the Belgian Report, and a quote:

The study concludes that to maintain the current policy of phasing out nuclear energy by 2025 would effectively undermine the Belgian economy and significantly increase carbon emissions, “Therefore, Belgium is advised to keep the nuclear option open and should reconsider the nuclear phase out,” the study says.

The Netherlands plan a new reactor by 2016.

Italy’s investment in the French plant.

The 1,600-megawatt reactor will be built by Areva, France’s state-owned manufacturer and cost euros 3.3 billion – euros 300 million more than initially estimated. EDF will have a partner in the venture: the Italian utility, Enel. It will provide 12.5 percent of the investment and get 12.5 percent of the reactor’s output. Italy, which has closed its nuclear reactors, has one of Europe’s highest energy costs and imports electricity from France.

An article on interest in the Philippines

Sweden’s poll.

03-April UPDATE: Info on the phase-out programme

Information on the plant upgrade may be found here [scroll down to Sweden].

And finally, the plans of Switzerland. [scroll down to Energy Policy.]

This is a fine example of how fear and conjecture tend to fill in voids resulting from a lack of information. I doubt Ms. Roberta Pollard intended to misstate so many claims in her letter. She probably trusted the people or sites where she received this information – at face value.

But again, we must look for the references… seek the truth, verify such claims objectively and then fill in those voids with factual, verifiable information.

Cooler heads must prevail.