Australian energy production and exports should focus on the opportunities of the 21st century, not the failures of the 20th century, Australian Greens Deputy Leader and spokesperson for nuclear issues Senator Scott Ludlam said today.

“I’m not sure how many times this argument needs to be had, but the answers are the same they’ve been for decades; nuclear power is too slow and too costly to make any useful contribution to Australia’s energy mix, to say nothing of the toxicity of the waste, and the inextricable connection to the weapons industry.

The Greens have welcomed a report from the Joint Standing Committee On Treaties (JSCOT) that has just been tabled in the House of Representatives, recommending Tony Abbott's intention to sell Australian uranium to India should not go ahead at this time.

JSCOT member Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said:

Chernobyl was the first, and until Fukushima, only major nuclear accident to reach Level 7 on the 7-point International Nuclear Events scale (INES).

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Despite efforts by the International Atomic Energy Agency to play down the disaster as a one-off resulting from poor work practices in the former Soviet Union, the world today is contemplating the ruins of a second reactor complex on Japan's Pacific Coast.

As the Australian Uranium Conference opens today in Perth, Senator Scott Ludlam, Australian Greens acting leader and spokesperson for nuclear issues has dubbed the industry as terminally ill.

"Renewable energy is growing at a faster rate than nuclear energy - an industry that has been dominated by disasters, cost blow outs and safety issues," Senator Ludlam said today.

"It's time the nuclear industry came to terms with the reality that a renaissance of the industry is impossible and resuscitation unlikely," Senator Ludlam said.