Australian Government Rejects Opposition’s Call to Embrace Nuclear Energy

A man fishes with the towering Dukovany nuclear power plant in the background in Dukovany, Czech Republic, on Sept. 27, 2011. (Petr David Josek/AP Photo)

The Australian government has turned down the Opposition’s demand to include nuclear power in the energy mix as the country moves toward net zero emissions.

In an interview with Nine News, Education Minister Jason Clare stated that the Labor government would not support nuclear power.

“They cost about $400 million bucks and take years and years to build,” he told Nine’s Today Show.

“Follow the money .... you can see what’s needed here. As all the old coal-fired power stations shut down, they need to be replaced by something and what the private sector’s doing is investing in the cleanest form of new energy, and that’s renewable energy.”

This comes after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, in a speech at the Institute of Public Affairs said that the Labor government was “mesmerised” by alternative energy sources and ignored the potential of small modular nuclear reactors.

“If nuclear power is so prohibitively expensive, why are more than 50 countries investing in it, including those with smaller economies than Australia?” Dutton said, reported The Australian Financial Review.

“Conveniently, the energy minister (Chris Bowen) is reluctant to mention the costs of storage and transmission when he talks about renewables being cheaper.”

Later, Mr. Dutton told Nine News that it would cost taxpayers over $100 billion to build the 28,000 kilometres of poles and wires proposed by the government.

“There are some estimates that it would be about $1.3 trillion over the course of the next period to get us to the level of renewables the government wants,” he said.

The debate on nuclear energy has been renewed as the country is facing an energy crisis that sees electricity prices skyrocket across states and territories.

The federal government has been blaming the war in Ukraine and the reduction in generation capacity due to aged coal-fired power plants encountering technical problems or retiring for the price hikes.

Opposition Believes Nuclear Technology Is Cost-effective

Pointing to the reliability problems of renewables and battery technology, Mr. Dutton said nuclear reactors were a cost-effective and safe solution that supported renewable energy and reduced prices.

“The small modular reactor is the same technology as the government is using on the submarines,” he said.

“So we can deal with it safely, and it can firm up renewables. It isn’t a competitor to renewables.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton during question time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Dec. 10, 2020. (Sam Mooy/Getty Images)

In light of nuclear reactor technology’s merits, the opposition leader said the country needed a conversation on the topic.

“You can turn off old coal-fired power stations, put the small pod hard reactors in, and it allows it (energy) to be distributed across the existing network,” he said.

Meanwhile, Energy Minister Chris Bowen still firmly believed that renewables were the cheapest form of energy.

The minister has dismissed the idea of building small nuclear reactors in Australia, saying it had small output despite the costs.

Finland’s Energy Prices Drop 75 Percent

While Australian politicians still trade words on nuclear reactors, some countries have seen a sharp drop in energy prices after embracing the technology.

In April, the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant commenced operation in Finland, the first reactor to be built in Western Europe in 15 years.

The 1,600-megawatt power plant produces 14 percent of the country’s electricity and is expected to continue operating in the next 60 years.

Following its launch, Finland reported a 75 percent fall in electricity prices.

Specifically, the average spot electricity prices fell from €245.98 (US$268) per megawatt hour in December to €60.55 in April.

One month later, it was reported that Finland’s spot energy prices dropped below zero due to an oversupply of electricity.

“The average price for the day is now slightly, but nevertheless, on the negative side. Yes, it is historic,” Jukka Ruusunen, CEO of grid operator Fingrid, said.

“Production is high, consumption is low, and now we are in a situation where it is not easy to adjust production.”

This was a stark contrast compared to 2022, when Finland had to ask its citizens to save energy after the country banned energy imports from Russia.

Nicole James contributed to this article.