The price tag of building a large scale nuclear power plant in Australia would be at least 8.5 billion dollars, according to the country's peak scientific agency.
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00:00 So this report takes a look at the costs associated with setting up different energy options,
00:06 one of those being nuclear.
00:08 And the CSIRO says to build a large-scale nuclear power plant here in Australia, the
00:13 cost would be somewhere between $8.5 to $12 billion.
00:18 But the report also goes on to note that when Australia is building technology here for
00:22 the first time, there are often cost blowouts.
00:25 So the figure could be even higher than that.
00:28 In terms of how long it would take to build one of these plants, the CSIRO looked at what
00:33 other countries have done.
00:34 It pointed to what occurred in the United Arab Emirates, for example, where it took
00:39 them about 13 years to get a plant up and running.
00:42 The CSIRO saying in the case of Australia, most likely the figure would be 15 years.
00:48 The reason that it would be a little bit longer than the UAE is because we've got more rules
00:53 and processes here.
00:54 We're a democratic country.
00:56 There's various measures that we have to abide by.
00:59 So that would slow down the process even further.
01:02 Aside from nuclear, though, this report did look at renewables too and the costs associated
01:07 with them.
01:08 It found that the cost of an offshore wind processing, offshore wind farm would be about
01:13 double the amount compared to an onshore wind farm.
01:17 That said, overall, Paul Graham from the CSIRO says the cost of nuclear still is much higher
01:23 than renewable projects.
01:27 It's important to note that when we talk about the cost of solar PV and wind, we're talking
01:31 about the cost to make it reliable.
01:34 So it's not just putting up a wind turbine or putting up a solar farm.
01:39 You have to put up all the transmission and the storage and the peaking plant and other
01:43 things that you need to make it reliable.
01:45 So when we talk about the cost of renewables, we're talking about the cost of reliable renewables.
01:51 So when we make these comparisons to nuclear, we're talking about one reliable option versus
01:55 another reliable option.
01:58 And what we conclude is that renewables remain the most cost effective reliable option.
02:04 And what's the political reaction been here?
02:06 Well, Australia at the moment doesn't use nuclear energy to turn the lights on in our
02:10 homes or to keep our homes warm.
02:13 But the opposition is suggesting that should be an option.
02:16 It has been pushing for nuclear power to be part of Australia's energy mix.
02:21 That is something very much the government is opposed to.
02:24 And Treasurer Jim Chalmers this morning has come out seizing on the figures in this report,
02:29 suggesting it's another reason why nuclear is not the way to go and the focus should
02:34 be on renewable energy.
02:35 Well, I think the CSIRO has completely torpedoed this uncosted nuclear fantasy of Peter Dutton's.
02:44 You know, nuclear costs more and it takes longer.
02:48 And Peter Dutton won't tell us where the reactors are going to go, which suburbs, which regions,
02:52 which towns, which cities are going to house Peter Dutton's reactors.
02:58 And the madness of this, I think, is laid bare in the CSIRO report.
03:04 So while the government is very much taking this report into account, we've heard from
03:09 the opposition this morning, the Shadow Energy Minister Ted O'Brien is casting a little bit
03:14 of doubt on the report, saying he wants a few more questions answered around how these
03:19 figures were reached.
03:21 Look, those sort of broad figures, there's too many sort of depends, too many variables.
03:26 We'll have to have a look at the detail and we'll be doing that and I'll be seeking a
03:29 briefing from CSIRO over the weeks ahead.
03:33 And you know, we'll have a look at their assumptions.
03:36 One point I will make, Australia should not be looking at a first of a kind.
03:40 We shouldn't be creating our own reactors.
03:42 We need to be using tried and proven technologies and that's what we will be looking at.
03:48 Now, Gemma, there was talk there about detail.
03:51 The thing is, though, the opposition hasn't provided the detail on how their nuclear plan
03:56 would work.
03:57 We don't know where the reactors would be, when they plan to set them up by, the cost
04:02 around it, the opposition insists that the plan will be released soon, but we just don't
04:06 know when that is.
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