Nuclear option on the table as Wagga prepares to host forum on future of clean energy

Nuclear for Climate Australia founder Robert Parker will call for an end to the moratorium on the nuclear discussion when he headlines a talk on the nation's clean energy future at the Wagga RSL Club on September 28.

Promotional material for the event indicates it will focus on what are being termed as "great alternatives to endless wind farms and the expensive and environmentally damaging expansion of the grid across our farming land."

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The event is set to focus on countries deemed to be "success stories of clean energy supply" that have combined hydroelectricity with nuclear power to supply users with "reliable power."

The idea of establishing nuclear power plants at existing coal fired power stations.

With the phasing out of coal fired power stations, event organiser and former Wagga councillor Paul Funnell said it's an important debate to be had right now.

"It's really about trying to help start a grassroots campaign because there's basically been a moratorium on even discussing nuclear power since the 1970s," Mr Funnell said.

But he said this is "all about politics" and hopes the event will get people thinking about the nuclear alternative.

"Let's put all the politics aside and just look at the facts," he said.

"If we wait for politicians to sort this out, our country will be destitute and broke.

"Our electricity prices are going through the roof and there are people who [already] can't afford to pay their electricity bills."

Mr Funnell said by making the case for nuclear, he is "not against renewable energy" and has his own 30 kilowatt set-up that he believes is "one of the biggest private systems going around."

"I'm basically off the grid," he said.

But Mr Funnell said without subsidies, renewables are not financially sustainable and argued that nuclear is the way forward.

"If we keep going down the path [we're going now], we're going to destroy the environment to save it," he said.

However, CSU renewable energy researcher Simon Wright countered these claims and said nuclear could pose some real problems.

"Nuclear is very unreliable," Mr Wright said.

"For example, a quarter of nuclear plants in France have been offline all year due to problems with reliability.

"Meanwhile, Germany has just decommissioned its last power station for reasons of cost and safety."

Mr Wright said the technology was "risky" even without taking into account safety issues and how to dispose of nuclear waste.

He agreed that establishing a reliable energy network is vital, but said this can be done with solar and advancing battery technologies.

"NSW and other states are [now] building enormous batteries... and [while] that takes time, that is the plan to deliver base load and it seems to be a very sensible approach," he said.

Members of the public are encouraged to attend the free event at the Wagga RSL Club from 6pm on September 28.

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