Union slams “false hope” in nuclear push, warns energy jobs at risk

Queensland’s sparkies have been warned of the “huge risk” to thousands of jobs in renewable energy posed by nuclear plans.

The Electrical Trades Union told electricians and apprentices in a mass mailout on Wednesday that nuclear energy was a “radioactive pipe dream” that could not replace coal-fired power stations.

National policy director Katie Hepworth says the “false hope” offered by the LNP on the premise that coal-powered stations can keep running is “letting down coal communities”.

“The ETU members, our maintenance workers, who work in these power stations know that they’re being held together by all the will in the world, but they know they can’t hold on forever,” Dr Hepworth told AAP.

“There is a huge risk that if what they’re being given is a fantasy of a nuclear power station without an entire industrial plan and a renewable plan, that they’re just going to be thrown on the scrap heap again.”

Apprentices are among those voting for the first time on Saturday when Queensland goes to the polls.

Dr Hepworth said the ETU was trying to give them a vision of the economy they were stepping into as the next generation of workers.

She said there was “huge excitement” among apprentices in the type of work they would be able to do, such as working on EVs, installing appliances and building clean energy generation.

“By calling into question that renewable transition, we’re really putting all of that at risk,” Dr Hepworth said.

The union’s Nuclear Energy Report for 2024 found nuclear reactors would be more expensive, could not be built before coal exits the electricity grid, and were “simply unnecessary” given abundant renewable energy sources.

The report authored by Dr Hepworth found nuclear power would be the most expensive form of energy for Australia, at 1.5 to three times the cost per kilowatt hour of coal-fired electricity and four to eight times of solar.

Small modular reactors, still unproven on a commercial scale, would be even more costly, the CSIRO has estimated.

The Smart Energy Council has calculated the federal opposition’s proposed fleet of seven nuclear reactors at up to $600 billion, for a mere four per cent of energy supply in the grid.

Nor can nuclear power be considered a clean source of energy because radioactive waste management was “costly, complex, contested and unresolved” in Australia and globally, Dr Hepworth said.

Even countries with existing nuclear capability are choosing renewables over nuclear, including China, because of the speed of deployment, and because the cost curve is low and continues to fall.

The federal opposition’s nationwide nuclear plan, includes two Queensland sites for nuclear generation – the Callide and Tarong coal-fired power stations.

“The Queensland LNP is committed to affordable, reliable and sustainable power,” an LNP spokeswoman told AAP.

“Keeping the lights on at Callide with our Electricity Maintenance Guarantee will ensure power bills are affordable, reliable and sustainable until alternatives are ready to power Queensland,” she said.

Union boss Peter Ong said massive changes to the energy system were already affecting workers and the union had been working hard to move them into well-paid, secure jobs.

“Peter Dutton’s nuclear fantasy will throw ETU members’ jobs in the gutter,” he said.

Source: AAP