Australia: government discuss whether nuclear power industry should be started

Australia: government discuss whether nuclear power industry should be started

The Cabinet agreed to appoint a panel of exports to investigate whether Australia should start shifting some of its reliance on coal and gas energy over to nuclear power, and to report to the government by the end of the year, Prime Minister John Howard said.

He said any power station would be built by the private sector rather than the government, the AP reports.

Howard's push in recent weeks for a nuclear power debate in the world's largest coal-exporting nation has surprised many observers, because nuclear energy was not covered by a government policy document on cleaner future energy technologies released less than a year ago.