Former chief scientist Alan Finkel says nuclear options in the energy grid would be decades away, while Australia needs urgent replacements for coal-fired power.
Former chief scientist Alan Finkel says it would take decades to develop a local nuclear energy industry, as he and other experts reject the Coalition’s push to switch focus from renewables to nuclear energy as implausible since Australia needs urgent replacement for its ageing coal-fired power plants.
Federal parliament banned nuclear power in 1998 and the moratorium has remained in place with bipartisan support, but Dutton is calling for the deployment of small modular reactors to reduce emissions from the electricity sector, instead of renewables that require a vast array of new power lines to link wind and solar farms to the cities.
Responding to assertions that small modular reactors, which are smaller than traditional nuclear plants, may be quicker and cheaper to build, Finkel said: “The reality is, it’s not being done in Europe and America.“There’s no operating small modular reactor in Canada, America or the UK, or any country in Europe.”
However, Finkel said from a “purely engineering” perspective, nuclear technology was appealing, with zero emissions, a continuous supply of baseload power and a small mining footprint for fuel. McConnell said deploying a small modular reactor at an old coal plant would not be the “plug-and-play” operation some optimists have suggested.
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