Nuclear Royal Commission likely to recommend reactor and high-level waste dump

A NUCLEAR power reactor to spearhead a push to lure industries with low-cost clean energy is likely to be a centrepiece of the Nuclear Royal Commission’s first findings, released tomorrow.

(FILES) This file photo taken on September 22, 2015 shows the Civaux Nuclear Power Plant at the edge of Vienne River between Confolens and Chauvigny, and 34 km southeast of Poitiers, Western France. France's energy transition law could lead French electric utility EDF to close up to a third of its French reactors and to revise its program to improve the safety of nuclear power plants, with an annual impact of several billion euros, said the Court of Auditors in its annual report published February 10, 2016. / AFP / GUILLAUME SOUVANT

A NUCLEAR power reactor to spearhead a push to lure industries with low-cost clean energy is likely to be a centrepiece of the Nuclear Royal Commission’s first findings, released tomorrow.

In a landmark move for Australia’s long-running nuclear debate, Royal Commissioner Kevin Scarce also is likely to recommend the state become the home for a high-level radioactive waste repository but not earmark any sites.

Rear Admiral Scarce, a former state governor, tomorrow releases tentative findings from his 11-month Royal Commission, which heard from 128 witnesses and was handed more than 250 submissions.

A series of public meetings — the first tomorrow at 6pm at Adelaide Town Hall — will make the findings available for public consultation ahead of the Royal Commission’s final report on May 6. Rear Admiral Scarce declined to give details of the report’s findings but said he hoped their release would trigger healthy discussion about the facts.

“The whole process is designed around sharing the information within the community, so that, eventually, when the report is complete, if government decides to take action, the community has a basis to make a decision,” he told the Sunday Mail.

Throughout the Royal Commission’s 34 days of public hearings last year, Rear Admiral Scarce consistently emphasised the critical need for community and social approval of any recommendations, saying this could happen only with clear facts and debate.

Rear Admiral Scarce also was careful not to endorse publicly any further expansion of the state’s role in the nuclear industry, repeatedly stressing he had no predetermined view and was investigating numerous options. But in December last year he emphasised the “certain amount of attraction” of small modular nuclear reactors to provide a plentiful supply of greenhouse gas emissions-free power.

The Royal Commission, which commissioned a business case to study costs and technology, heard an Australian nuclear reactor would cost between $3 billion and $16 billion.

It also heard evidence from the state’s high-voltage electricity network operator SA Power Networks that sites in the Adelaide Hills and Port Augusta would be suitable for a 1000-megawatt SA nuclear reactor to be connected to the network.

The business case assumes nuclear power plant operations would start in 2030 and canvasses electricity demand in 2020, 2030 and 2040.

The state Economic Development Board also held business meetings in Adelaide and Melbourne to inform the Royal Commission, particularly to supply credible numbers about business opportunities created by low-cost clean energy.

In November, Rear Admiral Scarce said some believed this was a wonderful opportunity to reinvigorate the SA business environment and said, at current rates, Australia would not meet its zero carbon emission goal by 2050.

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