Dr David Krofcheck: University Of Auckland Senior Lecturer in nuclear physics on the potential use of nuclear energy in New Zealand
Is it time to go back on our nuclear-free stance? Power bills will be rising soon, the Commerce Commission allowing Transpower and local lines companies to raise their prices to avoid worse hikes further down the road. The average household bill is set to increase by $10 a month in April, and by $5 a month for the following four years. New Zealand has had a firm nuclear-free stance since 1987, but could introducing nuclear power be the solution to our power struggles? Dr David Krofcheck, Senior Lecturer in Nuclear Physics at Auckland University, told Matt Heath and Tyler Adams that nuclear power generation is a lot safer than people assume. He says the disasters that occurred in places like Fukushima and Chernobyl are abnormal events, and not the standard path for the operation of nuclear power plants. Renewables currently provide 82% of New Zealand’s electricity needs, and 40% of our total primary energy, but despite their clean nature, there is still an issue with intermittency. Krofcheck says that he’d love for New Zealand to be open to nuclear to provide baseline power, since it would mitigate the intermittency problem. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.