Darren Chester says it’s too early to say if his Gippsland electorate would be a good location for nuclear

Not all Nationals MPs are racing towards nuclear replacing coal. Darren Chester is open to the idea but says safety concerns must be managed first.

Darren Chester, at Miners Lookout near Loy Yang.

Nationals frontbencher Darren Chester – whose regional Victorian electorate is home to three coal-fired power stations – says any future government wanting to introduce small modular nuclear reactors will have to ­reassure the host community that safety concerns have been “managed and ameliorated”.

While the member for Gippsland was open to nuclear reactors replacing coal plants, he said it was too early to nominate exactly where reactors should be established. Converting the power stations to biomass fuel was another option, he said.

The Australian revealed on Monday that Peter Dutton would announce the Coalition’s energy policy before the May federal budget, and include in it a plan identifying potential sites for small modular nuclear reactors as future net-zero power sources.

“I have no doubt that if you get to the point where you start talking about actual locations (for ­nuclear), you’re going to have to reassure and demonstrate to the host community that safety issues have been managed and ameliorated, and also you’ve got to be able to demonstrate direct social economic benefits to that community,” Mr Chester told The Australian.

“If you’re going to host the large-scale, baseload energy supply to a metropolitan market or a large manufacturer, there’s got to be jobs and benefits flowing to that community.”

Loy Yang Power Station at sunset. Picture: Jayden Sinclair

Mr Chester said there was an obvious advantage to any reactor being placed with existing coal transmission infrastructure, but didn’t go as far as his Nationals leader David Littleproud – who also has coal-fired power plants in his Queensland electorate of ­Maranoa and insisted he would have no worries “whatsoever” ­living next door to a nuclear ­reactor.

“I’m certainly open to having the conversation with my community,” Mr Chester said.

“It’s too early to tell whether my region is the best location. There’s a competitive advantage in La Trobe Valley and the active reuse of those (coal) energy assets could be nuclear, it could also be things like biofuels.”

Nationals MP Colin Boyce said “on face value” nuclear replacing coal at Callide, Gladstone and Stanwell power plants in his Queensland electorate of Flynn had to be considered.

“Central Queensland is the economic engine room of Australia and it’s important we get our heavy industry – the alumina industry, the cement industry – those sorts of industry need 24/7 baseload power,” Mr Boyce said.

“The only technology we have at this point in time that’s viable in doing that is nuclear energy.

“A wind and solar renewables program just simply cannot supply 24/7 power. One of the big ­issues in central Queensland is the enormous footprint the renewables sector is having on rural and agricultural central Queensland, on Australia for that matter.

“The nuclear option has only a fraction of that sort of footprint and doesn’t require the extensive transmission line infrastructure required by the renewable sector.”

The Nationals Member for Gippsland Darren Chester.

Labor MPs with coal in their electorates – Dan Repacholi in Hunter and Pat Conroy in Shortland – said nuclear wasn’t an option and their constituents didn’t want that energy source.“Mr Dutton and the Nationals must explain why they want to wreck an idyllic location and destroy an important income stream that comes from tourism by putting four separate nuclear reactors on the shores of Lake Macquarie, for no good reason,” Mr Conroy, the Defence Industry Minister, said.

Mr Repacholi added: “Dutton and the Nationals should explain why they think it’s OK to sell snake oil to the hardworking communities of the Hunter, making promises they won’t keep about technology that does not exist anywhere in the world commercially.

“While we have been a major producer of power for NSW for the last century, the electorate doesn’t want a nuclear power plant.

“We have more power generation in the Hunter now through new clean generation projects with pumped hydro, solar, wind, battery and hydrogen projects all in development, plus a new gas-fired power plant to firm the renewable grid.”