Opposition leader Peter Dutton's nuclear power plan for the country has been overshadowed by how much it could end up costing. Modelling released today by the CSIRO suggests building a nuclear power plant in Australia would cost twice as much as renewable energy. It comes as the coalition prepares to release the cost of its own nuclear plan.
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00:00This report is released by the CSIRO about once a year and it basically analyzes the
00:07cost of Australia's future energy needs.
00:10We're of course in the midst of a clean energy transition and so what the CSIRO does is compare
00:15the cost of different types of technologies that will need to replace coal-fired power
00:19stations that are closing.
00:21Now because the coalition adopted nuclear as part of its suite of policies, for the
00:25first time this year the CSIRO analyzed the cost of large-scale nuclear reactors.
00:32Now at the time it faced heavy criticism from the coalition and from some nuclear proponents
00:36who described the analysis as flawed and that was because of two reasons at the time.
00:42They pointed out that nuclear reactors last for 60 years or more which is about twice
00:46as long as a wind or solar farm so costs are spread out over a longer period and critics
00:52also argued that the CSIRO underestimated how often a nuclear power plant could operate
00:57at full capacity during the year.
00:59So when it was putting together this latest report the CSIRO said fair enough, we're happy
01:04to alter our assumptions, plug in new numbers and what it found was there was little difference,
01:12the conclusion was the same.
01:13So according to the CSIRO the cost of building a nuclear power plant is about twice that
01:19of renewables even firmed by batteries and storage so in other words it would cost twice
01:24as much to build a nuclear power plant than it would to build a large-scale wind and solar
01:28farm.
01:29And then on the timing front, this is also a crucial point, the CSIRO says that looking
01:34at international evidence it believes it would take at least 15 years to build the first
01:38reactor in Australia which is of course problematic because if the current forecasts are correct
01:4590% of Australia's coal-fired power stations are on track to close in the next 10 years.
01:50So the cost and the timing are the kind of two issues covered in this report.
01:54And as you say Jane, the report comes in the middle of a heated debate over energy policy
01:59so what's been the response to it?
02:01The Federal Government says this is just more evidence that its approach, its renewables
02:05led approach, is the cheapest way of overhauling the energy system.
02:10So under Labor's policy 82% of the nation's power will come from renewables by 2030, that's
02:15about twice as much as is happening now and the CSIRO's report does say that large-scale
02:21wind and solar firmed by batteries and even gas is the lowest cost new form of generation.
02:29Now the Coalition disagrees with this, even after the CSIRO accommodated its initial criticisms
02:36the opposition leader Peter Dutton hasn't really addressed the report itself but he
02:40believes that Australia does need nuclear power, that's why the Coalition's taking this
02:44policy to the next election.
02:47Despite the CSIRO's bindings the Coalition has said that its policy would be cheaper
02:52than Labor's.
02:53We're yet to see that modelling, it will be coming out this week but for a bit of a snapshot
02:57of the response to the CSIRO's report, here's Cabinet Minister Mark Dreyfus this morning.
03:03We need to get on and get our power network converted to renewables with firming gas
03:10in the interim and that's the course that the government's engaged in.
03:14Mr Dutton should stop with his nuclear fantasy.
03:19And here is how the opposition leader Peter Dutton responded.
03:23Do you know what, they haven't even seen our plan yet and yet they're out bagging it.
03:28It just looks to me like there's a heavy hand of Chris Bowen in all of this and I don't
03:32think people want to see that.
03:34I think what they know from Chris Bowen at the moment is that he's wrecking the energy
03:37system and that's wrecking the economy and that's why families are facing food inflation
03:43and higher prices when they go to the supermarket.
03:47Peter Dutton there and as I mentioned we are expecting to see the much anticipated costings
03:52of the Coalition's nuclear policy sometime this week, Ros.
03:55Thanks Jay.