Former governor Kevin Scarce urges nuclear power embrace linked to Adelaide submarine construction

Australia’s nuclear submarine deal will bring the fuel to SA one way or the other, the former governor says, but we can be smart about it.

Australia should seriously consider embracing nuclear energy, alongside an Adelaide submarine build, as a carbon-free base load electricity source, urges former state governor and royal commissioner Kevin Scarce.

In an interview with The Advertiser, the retired naval rear admiral said Australia would have to create elements of a nuclear industry during the construction of nuclear-powered submarines in Adelaide under the AUKUS pact, so should adopt the entire fuel cycle.

“I think once we have nuclear submarines, we will need to fuel them. We will need to store the waste. So why wouldn’t you think about creating the nuclear fuel rods, disposing of the waste and generating power at the same time?” Mr Scarce said.

“We’ve got the skills. We already run a nuclear reactor (at Sydney’s Lucas Heights) – we’ve run nuclear reactors for 50 or 60 years safely. There’s a base load of knowledge. It’s not beyond us.”

Former governor and nuclear fuel cycle royal commissioner Kevin Scarce. Picture: Sky News

Mr Scarce, South Australia’s governor from 2007 to 2014, spearheaded the SA Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission. In 2016, it recommended removing the existing legal prohibitions on nuclear power generation and establishing a nuclear waste repository to pump $445bn into the state economy – but said nuclear power would not be commercially viable in SA under current market rules.

Mr Scarce, who also was the Defence Material Organisation’s maritime systems head from 2000-03, said a nuclear submarine could not be operated safely without understanding the power plant’s operation.

“We need people that understand the nuclear industry. So we are going to have to be part of a (nuclear) future and you can’t rely on another nation to supply your fuel,” he said.

Defence plans to import the submarine power plants and says modern technology means safely acquiring, operating and sustaining nuclear-powered submarines does not require establishing a civil nuclear power industry.

But Mr Scarce urged the lifting of prohibitions on nuclear power and serious national debate about whether it was becoming economical because of soaring electricity prices – predicted to rise by at least 35 per cent next year.

“I think the real question is having that ability to look at an energy policy in its entire system from transmission to distribution to generation, and figure out how we’re going to generate tomorrow’s power – and we haven’t done that,” he said

“There’s a lot of wishful thinking about what happens when you retire coal and gas. It’s not something you can wishfully think about, you need to have definite plans. I can’t imagine why nuclear should not be included in an evaluation of future power generation technologies.”

The Kernkraftwerk Isar nuclear power plant, near Essenbach, Picture: Lukas Barth/Getty Images

Climate activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday argued it would be “a mistake” to close existing German nuclear power plants and “focus on coal” to generate electricity.

“I personally think it’s a very bad idea to focus on coal when (nuclear power) is already in place,” she told German public television, acknowledging the question was sensitive among climate campaigners and “a very infected debate”

Mr Scarce last October urged a national royal commission into nuclear energy, declaring a net zero emission target could not be reached by 2050 without it.