Don’t Stop at Desalination

Well done Morris Iemma. Despite the protests of a handful of Kurnell locals and the alarmist complaints of even fewer ‘scientists’ (“the drought is over”), Iemma is pushing ahead with a $1.8 billion desalination plant for Sydney. As Warragamba Dam hit 33.9% capacity a few months back, the plant project was tendered and the contract awarded. Regardless of the recent downpours – and dam levels reaching 50%, the plant is still going ahead, and rightly so.

The problem with the press and with our adversarial form of government is that you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Had Labor done nothing to combat the drought and growing water shortage except pray for rain – they would’ve been crucified had said rain not fallen. The Opposition were sweating on it. Now, having ponied up the dough for an ambitious desalination solution, a few weeks rain have prompted some to call the plant a white elephant, and to predict that Warragamba will soon be over flowing (Opposition leader Barry O’Farrell said: "Iemma ignored two months of record rainfall, and is still determined to put billions of dollars into this desalination plant,"). What a difference a few weeks makes.

This Administration’s view is that desalination is a great idea, if not an obvious one. Desalination of sea water is hugely popular in the Middle East (being mostly desert - Duabi wouldn't exist without it) and is growing fast in the USA, North Africa, Singapore, Spain, and China. If anything, Sydney is uniquely placed to meet the challenges of brine disposal (with the vast Pacific handy for dilution) and with a budget surplus to pay for the infrastructure. Employing some long sightedness not usually associated with our political leaders, Iemma’s view is that "the nation's largest city will not be brought to its knees by drought," – and he has implemented a practical solution. Water bills are expected to rise $30 a year over 3 years, and I think that’s a fair price to pay to be able to wash your car, flush your toilet and water your garden - guilt free.

Still, while he’s on a role, I’d like to see him press forward and bring nuclear power to NSW. The benefits seem obvious to me, and I have said as much previously. While we’re addressing water issues, it seems only logical to address expected power shortages and the challenges of reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Mr Iemma said it was "possible" the state would need not just one, but two, baseload power stations by the middle of next decade to meet rising demand. Any new stations are likely to be coal-fired, mostly because of the fear campaign surrounding the use of nuclear technology (and the standing of the coal lobby) – adding further to our carbon emissions. Without going through my pro-nuclear stance again it telling that the US safely operate over 100 nuclear power stations and France has both the cleanest air and cheapest electricity in Europe because of its harnessing of the atom.

Chernobyl was a long time ago, 21 years in fact. Given that we build a first class reactor, and man it with sober, (non-retarded) trained engineers, it just won’t happen here. Spent nuclear fuel (waste) will only need to be stored in 50 years time, and then easily enough underground somewhere in the vast tracts of uninhabited land in the middle of our great continent. It’s time the fear campaigns were set aside and we employ practical solutions to real problems. Our future is inevitably a nuclear one, spend your political capital while you can Morris.