Australian Nuclear Science Technology Organisation chairman Jim McDowell says waste repository could reap South Australia up to$500 billion

SOUTH Australia could reap up to $500 billion from an international nuclear waste repository, almost double present estimates, says University of SA chancellor Jim McDowell.

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SOUTH Australia could reap up to $500 billion from an international nuclear waste repository, almost double present estimates, says University of SA chancellor Jim McDowell.

Speaking at a nuclear waste management conference in Adelaide, Mr McDowell said the royal commission estimate of $257 billion revenue was pragmatic and well founded, but not the most optimistic.

Mr McDowell, also the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation’s chairman, said the figures represented the midline of independent economic projections, based on the wealth of evidence to the nuclear royal commission, which reported in May.

But he said the projected value almost doubled based on a more optimistic estimate, assuming the proposed repository captured 75 per cent of the market for high-level waste at a price of $2.5 million per tonne.

“This is the way that we should be thinking about the economic projections — not as threshold, below which the project would fail,” Mr McDowell said.

“But as a middle-of-the-road scenario that could be significantly underachieved yet still remain economically viable, or could be significantly overachieved and bring in almost double the projected value to the state.”

Mr McDowell, a former Australian and Saudi Arabian chief of global defence giant BAE Systems, yesterday told the Australian Nuclear Fuel Cycle conference that the scale of investment needed to get into the waste management business meant the first mover had an overwhelming advantage.

“There will be no point in waiting to see how someone else does it and then putting your hat into the ring. This is not a market that lends itself to fast followers,” he said.

Community benefits would extend beyond dollar figures, he said, highlighting the potential opening of global markets for small businesses that became qualified in nuclear engineering.

The royal commission found a repository could create more than 9600 direct and indirect jobs by 2030.

“For example, advanced manufacturing capabilities, like the construction of specialised casks, canisters and double-hulled ships (for transporting waste) could be undertaken locally,” Mr McDowell said.

“Facility operators and the independent regulator would employ skilled people, who could be educated at South Australia’s universities.”