20 Apr (NucNet): Prime minister John Howard has opened the new 400 million Australian dollar (334 million US dollars, 245 million euros) OPAL research reactor near Sydney, saying nuclear energy and nuclear science are “part of Australia’s future”.
“Those who seek to shut the nuclear option out of anything in relation to power generation or science or medicine in the future are really looking backwards rather than forwards,” Mr Howard said at the opening ceremony today at the Australian Nuclear Science and Research Organisation (ANSTO).
“Nuclear power is cleaner than power from coal or from gas, and as coal gets dearer as we apply technologies which produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, then inevitably it will become more economic to use nuclear power.”
ANSTO executive director Ian Smith said it was an historic day for Australia and a major step forward for Australian science.
“OPAL is the jewel in the crown of Australian nuclear science, and is Australia’s largest single scientific investment,” said Mr Smith. “It is destined to be one of the top three reactors in the world for scientific research.”
He said OPAL’s nuclear tools will help scientists better understand a number of issues such as essential biological processes in the body, genetics and diseases like cancer and obesity.
ANSTO, which supplies more than 70 percent of the radiopharmaceuticals used in Australian nuclear medicine procedures, has said OPAL will allow for as much as a four-fold increase in its production of medical isotopes, as well as for the production of radiopharmaceuticals currently not available to Australia.
OPAL replaces ANSTO’s previous research reactor HIFAR, which was shut down at the end of January 2007.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
ANSTO Granted Operating Licence For Australia’s OPAL (World Nuclear Review No. 28, 14 July 2006)
Australia’s OPAL Reaches Full Power (World Nuclear Review No. 44, 3 November 2006)
