Why producing uranium is our moral duty.

last updated 8 January 2015

Australia

Paul Sheehan

What should Australia do with the world’s largest uranium reserves? asked Paul Sheehan in The Sydney Morning Herald. I used to think that we should just “leave it in the ground.” After all, refining yellowcake into fuel for nuclear power plants creates toxic byproducts that last 1,000 years. Worse, enriched uranium can be used to make nuclear weapons. But “events have conspired” to make uranium “less evil than the oil-coal status quo.” In the short term, buying oil props up radical Islamic regimes that support terrorism. And in the long term, burning oil will cause catastrophic global warming. Australia could take the lead in creating an international system for the production of uranium, “a benign cartel” that would keep nuclear material away from “rogue elements.” The safest option would be for Australia to lease uranium to foreign energy companies and reclaim the waste for safe disposal back here. “In other words, we mine it, manufacture it, sell it, and monitor it for the duration of the life cycle.” As the world’s “uranium cop,” Australia would be combating global warming and global terrorism. And, as an added bonus, we would get very, very rich.