In a favourite episode of iconic 1990s adult cartoon The Simpsons, progressive-minded daughter Lisa Simpson leads a folk song protest outside Springfield’s comically depicted nuclear power plant, complete with three-eyed fish in the nearby waterways.

As the plant owner and villain Mr Burns switches off the town’s electricity supply to blackmail citizens with safety and environmental concerns, Lisa sings “So we’ll march day and night by the big cooling tower. They have the plant, but we have the power.”

Lisa got it: It’s the latter that matters, regardless of whether you’re pro or anti-nuclear.

Likewise, the genesis of Australia’s current nuclear debate is an attempt to build electoral and political power, not an attempt to generate more electricity.

In a nation that hasn’t had a serious nuclear discussion for decades, the Coalition’s declaration that it will build seven nuclear reactors if it wins government brings with it a polarising contest.

It may just explode, given people know very little about what is involved, and are primed for big........

© The New Daily