Nuclear option costs “six times more” than renewables
The high upfront costs and burden on consumers of adding nuclear to Australia’s energy mix have been confirmed in an independent review.
Building nuclear reactors would cost six times more than wind and solar power firmed up with batteries, according to the independent report released by the Clean Energy Council.
“We support a clear-eyed view of the costs and time required to decarbonise Australia and right now, nuclear simply doesn’t stack up,”
Kane Thornton,Chief Executive,Clean Energy Council
Taxpayers need to understand the decades of costs if they have to foot the bill for building a nuclear industry from scratch, Thornton warned.
The analysis also found nuclear energy had poor economic viability in a grid dominated by renewable energy.
Renewable energy will provide 82% of the national electricity market under current targets for 2030, which is at least a decade before any nuclear could theoretically be operational in Australia.
Further, nuclear power stations are not designed to ramp up and down to align with renewable energy generation.
Adding to the cost challenges, Australia has no nuclear energy industry because it is prohibited under commonwealth and state laws, which would all need to be changed.
Thornton said the analysis confirmed that building nuclear power stations instead of renewables would cause power prices to “explode”.