Australia has missed boat on large nuclear plants but smaller reactors should be considered: Switkowski
Australia has missed the boat on building large nuclear power plants, Ziggy Switkowski tells inquiry.
Australia has missed a window to build large nuclear power plants but a new fleet of smaller reactors should be considered to help support the nation’s electricity grid, NBN chairman and nuclear physicist Ziggy Switkowski told a public inquiry.
The government committee was convened at the request of Energy Minister Angus Taylor to investigate the potential of nuclear power in Australia, with several Coalition backbenchers arguing the fuel source needs to be considered as part of a future generation mix to ease prices and cut emissions.
However, Mr Switkowski told the inquiry that Australia had likely missed an opportunity for large nuclear plants.
“I think the window for large gigawatts of nuclear generators has now closed for Australia,” said Mr Switkowski, a former chairman of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.
However, small modular reactors of up to 300MW which can be built at a fraction of the cost and with less safety issues could still form part of the electricity mix.
“Will there be an opportunity for small to medium moderate reactors? I think there will be especially in regional Australia to power small towns up to 100,000 population, to support mining sites and desalination plants. But we won’t know until the small modular reactors are deployed in quantity and that’s unlikely to happen for another 10 or so years.”
The construction and operation of a nuclear power plant in Australia is prohibited by two commonwealth acts: similar prohibitions exist in state law. But Mr Switkowski said prohibitions should be removed.
“We should really not be making decisions in 2019 based upon legislation passed in 1999 reflecting the views of 1979. We’re in a situation now where if someone like Bill Gates who supports nuclear power and invests in a company called TerraPower wanted to partner with an Australian organisation to produce nuclear power in Australia, he could not lawfully do so.”
The Australian Energy Market Operator was also quizzed by the committee’s Liberal chairman Ted O’Brien and deputy chairman Josh Wilson, a Labor MP, about a report produced last year with the CSIRO showing nuclear at five times the cost of wind and solar.
Asked if there was any evidence the cost of small reactors would fall in the future, AEMO external affairs officer Tony Chappel said: “We haven’t seen it yet.”
The power grid operator said it will take a question on nuclear costs “on notice” but conceded it had not been a central focus given its prohibition in Australia.
“Just because of the legal status of that technology, we don’t spend a large amount of resources investigating the latest global trends,” Mr Chappel said, noting revised cost estimates were due at the end of this year.
The parliamentary committee on the environment and energy toured the government’s Lucas Heights nuclear facility on Wednesday.