House of Representatives Media Release
As part of its inquiry into nuclear power generation in Australia, the House of Representatives Select Committee on Nuclear Energy has released an interim report.
The Committee was established to inquire into and report on the consideration of nuclear power generation, including deployment of small modular reactors, in Australia.
The Committee has held 19 public hearings across Australia, which took important evidence from a range of stakeholders. The Committee heard from global nuclear experts about the milestones and recommended approach for deploying nuclear power generation were the existing state and federal prohibitions on nuclear power in Australia lifted. Evidence was also received from representatives of Australia’s science, energy and climate sectors – including federal government agencies responsible for Australia’s existing nuclear activities – who advised on key considerations and challenges for deployment in the Australian context. Many stakeholders, including First Nations, environment and community groups, commented on social licence issues for deploying nuclear power in Australia.
Chair of the Committee, Mr Dan Repacholi MP, the Federal Member for Hunter, said: ‘This interim report focuses on two key issues that have dominated the evidence we’ve received to date: whether nuclear power generation could be rolled out in Australia in an acceptable timeframe, and how affordable it would be – particularly compared to alternative power generation technologies currently available in Australia.’
Mr Repacholi stated: ‘From the evidence considered by the Committee to date, it is apparent that it could be well into the 2040s before we might see nuclear energy generated in Australia if that form of energy generation were to be pursued. This would be too late to meaningfully support the achievement of Australia’s climate and energy targets or to help our coal power plant workforce and communities as we transition away from coal power.’
‘We also heard that nuclear power is more expensive than the alternatives both to build and to use. As a country with no previous nuclear power experience, we were told that Australia could experience a 100 per cent premium on the estimated cost to build nuclear reactors – a cost that taxpayers would likely have to pay.’
On the question of small nuclear reactors, Mr Repacholi reflected: ‘Given they are still in the conceptual design stage and are not commercially available, small nuclear reactors simply don’t measure up as a viable option for powering Australia in the foreseeable future compared to proven solar and wind technologies which are already being rolled out and generating power.’
The interim report states it does not present the Committee’s final views or recommendations.
The Committee thanks all those who have contributed to the inquiry to date through written submissions, correspondence and giving evidence at public hearings.
The interim report and further information about the inquiry can be found on the Committee’s website.
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If all of of the politics and emotion and hype is removed from der Spud’s concept of a nuclear power generation industry for Australia, the whole issue boils down to capabilities, and costs.
I am NOT any sort of expert in the field, but I can and do read stuff.
The home grown capabilities and skillsets that would enable australia to create from scratch a collection of reactors to generate electricity are ZERO. Nil. Nada. We got nuthin’. It would all have to be outsourced.
The costs are a complete unknown. All of the groundwork would be new. The research would be new and different. comparrisons of type and suitability wouldbe required and assessed. This all costs. There is neither the time nor the cash to waste on pipedreams.
The coalition commissioned a report into the suitability of the project, that was short on detail, and even shorter on costings and reality.
The guvvm’nt got their own report done that concluded “Too expensive, timeframe to big, not enough juice at the end anyway” Both reports were derided as being partisan politics.
“Nucular for Astraya” should have been laughed out of the liarbral party room before Spudley was able to bring it into the light of day. Albanese should have been able and equipped to have the idea turned into an instant joke at Spud’s expense. Australia’s media, ALL of it, should have thrown all of its collective research and knowlege at the idea as soon as Dutton opened his mouth and consequently put the brainfart back into it’s box forever.
But NO !!!!! And Here we are.
A full on Parliamentary enquiry into something that equates to “Is pissing into the wind a good idea”. How much did that cost? Wasn’t there anything better our pollies could do with their time?
We the Voter are now stuck with Nuclear as an itch that will need scratching. It will never go away, but it will never amount to anything either.
It was never meant to. It is just a distraction, an artifice designed to give We the Voter something to ponder, to discuss around the bonfire at Christmas. While THEY burn more coal.
And that is something that NOBODY can afford