Opposition leader Peter Dutton has unveiled a plan to build large-scale nuclear reactors at five potential sites across Australia, winning the backing of nuclear energy campaigner Dick Smith.
Ted O’Brien, the Coalition’s energy spokesman, made waves on Monday morning by pointing out that having large-scale reactors, and not just small modular ones, is part of Australia’s nuclear mix.
The Coalition shadow cabinet is reportedly considering a number of sites where nuclear power plants could be installed in Australia, including the locations of large aging or retired coal-fired power stations such as Eraring and Liddell in Australia’s Hunter Valley. New south Wales.
That plan, first revealed by Sky News, won the backing of businessman Dick Smith, who for the past three decades has championed the cause of bringing nuclear power to Australia.
Smith told Daily Mail Australia he welcomed the Liberal Party’s adoption of modern nuclear technology, regardless of its scale, because renewable energy was too unreliable.
“They are on the right track,” he told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday.
‘We have to stop using fossil fuels and there is no way an entire country can run on wind and solar energy; It has never been done; Not even a city has been able to function continuously.’
Dick Smith has weighed in as opposition leader Peter Dutton flags a nuclear energy policy involving large-scale reactors.
Smith, who will turn 80 in less than a fortnight, has been an advocate of small modular reactors, which do not yet exist anywhere in the world, as an answer to zero-emissions energy.
Corporations such as Rolls Royce have been developing SMR technology, which would allow small nuclear power plants the size of shipping containers to be built in factories and transported to a particular site.
His favorite model for Australia is the Barakah nuclear reactor in the United Arab Emirates, which has been operational since 2020, with Korean technology.
It is a large-scale reactor that was built in just six years and Mr Smith has suggested building it at retired coal-fired power stations.
“It has been proven that the South Koreans are very skilled at building nuclear reactors,” said Mr. Smith.
“My suggestion is that we simply replace our coal power plants and get the South Koreans to build what they have done in the United Arab Emirates.”
Smith also suggested storing nuclear waste at Olympic Dam in South Australia, which is also the site of a uranium mine, and disputed Labor’s claim that nuclear power would be expensive.
“It doesn’t seem logical because in Europe the cheapest energy available is in France and France is 70 percent nuclear,” he said.
Smith, who will turn 80 in less than a fortnight, has been an advocate of small modular reactors, which do not yet exist anywhere in the world. Companies such as Rolls Royce have been developing SMR technology.
Dutton said nuclear power had the potential to reduce electricity prices and achieve zero carbon emissions.
“The path the government has us in right now will not only result in higher prices, but also a greater likelihood of blackouts and brownouts, and many businesses cannot afford that disruption to their energy supply,” he said.
‘We need to find a way to lower energy prices; “We need to make sure the electricity is stable.”
Energy spokesman Mr O’Brien said on the ABC’s PM program on Monday afternoon that the Coalition was agnostic on nuclear technology.
“We must keep in mind that our energy policy will not be based on any particular technology,” he said.
“Unlike the Labor Party, we are taking an all-of-the-above approach, where all technologies must be properly considered and put on the table.”
“Any coal-to-nuclear transition strategy should consider different types of new and emerging nuclear technologies, from advanced microreactors to small modular reactors and large next-generation reactors,” he told The Australian.
But O’Brien was unable to dispute the ABC’s claim that solar and wind are proven technologies even though renewable energy will only meet 32 per cent of Australia’s energy needs in 2022 due to changing climate challenges, energy transmission and storage.
“Again, learning from other countries, nuclear energy is an important part of the mix,” he said.
National MP David Gillespie, president of the Parliamentary Friends of the Nuclear Industries, is in favor of small modular reactors. that can be connected to the electrical grid as coal-fired power plants are retired.
Both sides of politics favor net zero carbon emissions by 2050, but the Coalition is skeptical about relying exclusively on renewables such as coal and natural gas, which will be phased out.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said nuclear power was an expensive option.
“Their proposal will cost hundreds of billions of dollars, it will take decades to build, it is more expensive, it takes longer and it is the divisive option,” he told Sky News on Tuesday.
‘So if you want to build large-scale nuclear reactors all over our country, you should tell us where they would go if you were in government.
His favorite model for Australia is the small Barakah modular reaction in the United Arab Emirates that has been operational since 2020, with Korean technology.
“The majority of Australians recognize that our future is renewable, and that is where our efforts and focus must lie.”
Fossil fuels, including coal, gas and oil, provided 68 per cent of Australia’s energy in 2022 and renewables accounted for 32 per cent of total electricity generation, Department of Climate Change data showed , Energy, Environment and Water.
Australia’s nuclear medicine isotopes, used for cancer chemotherapy treatments, are manufactured in Lucas Heights, south of Sydney, and waste is also stored there after being reprocessed in France.
“It’s reprocessed in France and sent back to the Sydney suburb of Lucas Heights where a lot of people live,” Smith said.