Royal Commissioner Kevin Scarce says South Australian nuclear power would be hard and expensive

ADDING a nuclear reactor to South Australia’s power grid would be hard and expensive but would create a large source of greenhouse gas-free electricity, says Royal Commissioner Kevin Scarce.

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ADDING a nuclear reactor to South Australia’s power grid would be hard and expensive but would create a large source of greenhouse gas-free electricity, says Royal Commissioner Kevin Scarce.

In an interview after 34 days of public hearings, Rear Admiral Scarce said he would assess nuclear power’s role in meeting this month’s Paris climate summit’s agreement to keep average global warming well below 2C.

The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission’s preliminary findings will be delivered on February 15, he revealed, for consultation ahead of a final report on May 6.

Rear Admiral Scarce, previously state governor, said nuclear power might play a role in curbing emissions, along with wind and solar energy.

“The evidence is that it would be hard, not impossible, but hard to integrate a large nuclear power plant into our South Australian network,” he told the Sunday Mail. “Small modular reactors would be much easier to integrate but there are none commercially available. If you were thinking about nuclear reactors, they’re very expensive and we seem to have lost the art of delivering on time and cost.

“Yet if you were thinking about building future skills and the opportunity for a plentiful supply of greenhouse gas emissions-free power, then they have a certain amount of attraction.” Premier Jay Weatherill, who ordered the Royal Commission in February, this week declared jurisdictions that moved first to increase renewable energy would reap the advantages in a “carbon-constrained future”.

The Sunday Mail’s Your Say, SA survey, published last month, found increased support for expanding the nuclear industry, a reversal of fierce opposition a decade ago.

More than 5700 people responded to the survey, which showed 47 per cent support for a nuclear power plant and 43 per cent backing a national nuclear waste dump.

Federal Resources and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg last month announced SA had three of the six sites short-listed for a national radioactive waste dump.

Rear Admiral Scarce said evidence to the Royal Commission showed most countries had struggled to get community support for a waste repository.

“If you like, the social licence for a repository is often more challenging than the technical issues,” he said.

A report commissioned by conservation groups raises concerns about the Royal Commission, including allegations its Expert Advisory Committee is unrepresentative and unbalanced and that a repeated pattern of pro-nuclear claims is being uncritically accepted and promoted.

The report was released by Conservation SA, the Australian Conservation Foundation and Friends of the Earth SA.

“The nuclear industry embodies unique, complex and long-lasting safety, security, environmental and public health challenges,” Conservation SA chief Craig Wilkins said.

“The sector lacks a secure social licence and it is imperative that any consideration of an expansion of the industry is predicated on the highest standards of evidence, rigour, transparency and inclusion.”