Nuclear Energy is Not the Answer

Peter Dutton still refuses to release any details about how he will introduce nuclear energy into Australia. This article will look at some details of why it won’t work.

The first clue should be that there are no private investors that have expressed an interest in building a nuclear power plant.

All the energy companies in Australia have rejected nuclear energy as not being feasible, and have invested billions of dollars in transitioning to renewables.

Secondly, all nuclear reactors take a long time to build. We wouldn’t be able to have one online until 2040 at the earliest.

You can’t just build them anywhere. Dutton’s plan to build them on the sites of existing coal-fired power plants is ill informed and reckless

Existing plants are built near coal mines which have underground tunnels that are prone to subsidence.

The soil is also contaminated which has caused changes in the silt layer which increases the chance of subsidence. The last thing we want is nuclear power plant sinking into the ground.

Nuclear power plants also need to be built near large freshwater supplies. The water supplies that exist near coal fired plants are not large enough and are also contaminated.

The ideal place to build nuclear plants would be near large existing dams which supply water for our major cities. I don’t think anybody would be agreeable to the possibility of water supply contamination from a nuclear power plant.

Also take into account that nuclear power plants were first built in the USA in 1955. 255 plants have been built and today only 60 continue to operate commercially, with the last one going online in 2018. There are no new plants under construction in the USA.

Of the 60 that are operating commercially only 30 operating at a profit. After 70 years of nuclear power plant construction, nuclear energy only provides 18.4% of America’s electricity supply.

Compare this to renewable energy which first came online in the USA in 2008. Today renewable energy is responsible for 23.5% of electricity production in the United States.

Nuclear is on the way out in America and renewables are replacing it. Even the Americans have realised that nuclear energy production is far more expensive than renewables.

The CSIRO have investigated this carefully, and have produced a detailed report saying that nuclear energy is not feasible. So too has Australia’s former chief scientist Alan Finkel.

The LNP have rejected both these reports and attacked the credibility of the scientists that prepared them, without offering any details themselves that counter the two reports.

Dutton keeps stating that he will release the details in two weeks. He has been saying this for the last two years. It is clear that he has no details and has no plan.

We have a lot of details as to why nuclear is not feasible and will not help us to reach our emissions reductions target. There are no details to support Dutton’s claims that it is the only solution.

Dutton has made this an election issue. As Dutton himself has said: “if you don’t know, vote no.”

Craig Hill is a Brisbane-based Social Justice Campaigner, Writer, Teacher and Business Consultant. He has campaigned for social justice in Australia, promoted human rights in China and worked with the homeless in Honolulu. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Business, a Graduate Certificate in Education and a degree in Management. He is also the General Manager of The Australian Business and Leadership School.

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