Opposition Leader powers atomic energy solution in Knight cartoon

In a bold move, the Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has pushed the button on his nuclear power* policy.

If the Liberal/National Party coalition* wins the next election, due to be held in the next year, Mr Dutton has said that over time they will build seven nuclear power stations around Australia.

He has indicated that these facilities will be located on the sites of decommissioned* coal-fired power stations, to save the cost of building new transmission* lines. The Liberals say that renewable* energy like solar and wind will not generate enough power to replace coal and gas, so we need an emissions-free* alternative to generate that base load power when the sun doesn’t shine for solar and the breeze doesn’t blow for wind turbines*. He also suggested the nuclear alternative could hopefully bring down the cost of electricity and provide reliability of supply. That, said Mr Dutton, is why nuclear power is a no-brainer.

Other developed economies around the world use nuclear power and we are one of the world’s major suppliers of uranium*. We have heaps of the stuff! He’s not sure how much building these power stations will cost or what type they will be, but all that will come out during the election campaign, as will the issue of storing the nuclear waste.

Of course, another thing is that we have had a working nuclear reactor in Australia since 1958 at Lucas Heights in the southern suburbs of Sydney. The High Flux reactor 1958-2007, then the Opal reactor from 2007, have been producing medical and industrial radioisotopes* successfully and safely for decades.

So I guess as adults we will all sit down at a big table and look at all the pros and cons, invite experts in to give us their view, have a calm chat about how it might work best for Australia into the future and the costs involved and then make a decision.

Just joking.

Unfortunately that will not happen. There is an election coming, so there will be scare campaigns, exaggerations, hysteria* and misinformation, as you would expect during an election.

After Dutton announced his policy, the airwaves were electric (sorry about the pun) with opinions for and against. This will be ongoing up until the next election later this year or early next year. It will be an all-out nuclear war between the political parties!

A cartoon on the announcement was called for and my first thought was the frenzy of debate that Dutton’s policy had generated. If only we could bottle that, it would power Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane for a week!

All the usual suspects were out there giving us their two cents’ worth on nuclear power. The PM, his Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen, the state premiers were refusing to play ball and the Greens apoplectic* with rage.

We have a history of “nuclear like” reactions to discussing atomic energy in Australia, so I wasn’t really amazed by how the talk of nuclear power had “lit up all levels of government”. And there was my idea. But how to illustrate it? I Googled nuclear power stations and one of the distinguishing architectural traits* I noticed was that the reactor building at these facilities is shaped like Peter Dutton’s bald head. A striking resemblance! I sketched his head squeezed in between two large cooling towers, added some transmission lines, and presto, I had me a Liberal Party-inspired nuclear power plant!Then standing in front of the Dutton power plant idea was a collection of politicians who were against it. I depicted them glowing white hot with anger, a by-product of the nuclear announcement. A cooling pond is in the background for good measure should they go into total meltdown. The cartoon clearly illustrates the ability of nuclear power to generate heat and light Australia up! The politicians, anyway.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• nuclear power: form of energy released from the nucleus, the core of atoms, made up of protons and neutrons
• coalition: different political or social groups who are co-operating to achieve shared aims
• decommissioned: stopped using, removed, retired
• transmission: process of transferring, spreading or passing something from one place to another
• renewable: natural sources that are replenished at a higher rate than they are used
• emissions-free: carbon neutral, doesn’t release greenhouse gas emissions or leave a carbon footprint
• turbines: machines that use a moving stream of air, water, steam, or hot gas to turn a wheel to produce power
• uranium: a chemical element that is a heavy, radioactive metal, used in the production of
• radioisotopes: An unstable form of a chemical element that releases radiation as it breaks down and becomes more stable
• hysteria: extreme and uncontrollable fear, excitement, anger, laughter and so on
• apoplectic: furious, overcome with anger, enraged
• traits: characteristics, qualities, or tendencies that someone or something possesses

EXTRA READING

Renewables in power struggle

Nuclear wastewater plan explained

Wind farms spark Blue whale fears

QUICK QUIZ

1. How many nuclear power stations has Mr Dutton pledged to establish in Australia?
2. Where does he plan to locate the nuclear power stations?
3. Australia is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of which chemical element?
4. Australia has had a working nuclear reactor since what year?
5. What have the High Flux reactor and the Opal reactor been producing safely for decades?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. What happens next?
Imagine this cartoon is part of a story that is made up of three cartoons. The three cartoons tell a complete story, and Mark’s cartoon is the start of the story. Think about what the story could be and draw the next two cartoons that tell the story.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Visual Arts, Visual Communication Design, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Look through the most recent stories on Kids News and choose one to draw a cartoon about.

Use Mark’s three-step process to get started:

What is my subject?

What do I want to say about this issue?

How do I say it? Do I use visual metaphors (an image that the viewer is meant to understand as a symbol for something else), multiple panels or symbolism (when one idea, feeling or emotion is represented by something else such as a picture, character, colour or object)?

Time: allow at least 40 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum links: English, Humanities, Visual Arts, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Punctuation thief
Pick a paragraph from the article, or about three sentences together if that’s easier, and rewrite it without the punctuation. At the bottom of the page write a list of all the punctuation you stole and in the order you stole it. For example; C , . C .

Then swap your book with another person and see if they can work out where the punctuation needs to go back to.

Make it easier: Underline where you stole the punctuation from but don’t put the list at the bottom in order.

Make it harder:

Don’t put the punctuation in order at the bottom.

Underline where you took the punctuation from, but don’t tell them what pieces you took.

Just tell them how many pieces you took, but not what they are.

Don’t give them any clues!