The Coalition’s push to build nuclear power plants across Australia will come into focus on Monday when Peter Dutton reveals more about seven proposed sites in five states.
Mr Dutton will address Australia’s Economic Development Committee on the nuclear power plan, which is set to be a central issue in the upcoming election campaign..
However, the cost of building nuclear reactors is not expected to be revealed in the speech.
The Coalition outlined plans in June to build reactors in the Hunter Valley and Lithgow in New South Wales, the Latrobe Valley in Victoria, Callide and Tarong in Queensland, Port Augusta in South Australia and Collie in Western Australia, if it wins the next election.
If the proposal goes ahead, it would take 10 to 12 years before the first reactor is completed, with the remaining ones to be built from the 2040s onwards.
Mr Dutton has previously said nuclear power would provide reliable baseload power as coal is phased out, and that renewables would complement it rather than rely on it to provide the bulk of energy supply.
Nationalist leader David Littleproud said the Coalition would reveal the costs of nuclear policy before the election.
“(The speech) will outline our energy policy in its entirety, around what our mix will be, and it’s about not putting all our energy in one basket,” he told Sky News.
Peter Dutton will give a speech on Monday outlining a proposal to build seven nuclear reactors
The coalition plans to build reactors in five states, including Victoria’s La Trobe Valley. Pictured: What the reactors could look like
“We’ve taken a very mature approach to this, we’ve said there will be seven sites across the country that will convert those coal-fired power plants into nuclear power plants.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the Coalition’s nuclear policy is “‘economic madness’.
“It costs more, it will increase energy prices and it will take longer,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
“He needs to be honest … in this speech: how much it will cost, what it will mean for energy bills, how he will pay for it and what Australia will do over the decades it will take to build these reactors.”
