The National Party caucus is currently on a 3-day retreat and is discussing revising their nuclear ships policy. Prior to the election their position was not particularly clear (or rather it was, but was miscontrued by both the government and the media). They said that there would be no change in the policy without a referendum, or alternatively a clear mandate via an election when they directly campaigned on the issue (which they were not doing).
Their new position apparently is to say simply there will be no change in the nuclear policy full stop.
While their new position is definately very politically sensible, I do not agree with it.
Back in 1991 the then National Government had a detailed report (the Somers report) commissioned into the nuclear issue. It concluded that Auckland Hospital emits more radiation in a day than the entire US navy does in a year. There was no reasonable chance of any problems occuring. Thus, the anti-nuclear ship policy appears to have no scientific basis - it seems to be more based on anti-US sentiment that on any objective measure.
However, I do think that the ban on nuclear weapons was a good idea, and see absolutely no reason to remove it. Mind you, as very few US ships now carry nuclear weapons (maybe some submarines, if that), it is a non-issue as well.
The irony is that under New Zealand law it would be legal to build a nuclear power plant (assuming that you could get resource consent which would be unlikely), you just can't bring in a nuclear powered ship.hevia torrents
Their new position apparently is to say simply there will be no change in the nuclear policy full stop.
While their new position is definately very politically sensible, I do not agree with it.
Back in 1991 the then National Government had a detailed report (the Somers report) commissioned into the nuclear issue. It concluded that Auckland Hospital emits more radiation in a day than the entire US navy does in a year. There was no reasonable chance of any problems occuring. Thus, the anti-nuclear ship policy appears to have no scientific basis - it seems to be more based on anti-US sentiment that on any objective measure.
However, I do think that the ban on nuclear weapons was a good idea, and see absolutely no reason to remove it. Mind you, as very few US ships now carry nuclear weapons (maybe some submarines, if that), it is a non-issue as well.
The irony is that under New Zealand law it would be legal to build a nuclear power plant (assuming that you could get resource consent which would be unlikely), you just can't bring in a nuclear powered ship.hevia torrents
Trackbacks
TrackBack URL for this entry:
hevia torrents