Will Dutton’s nuclear power play work? I asked a very bright spark

Dr Dylan McConnell is a very bright spark. The UNSW senior researcher is an expert in energy systems, including nuclear.: Dr McConnell, welcome to the Hotel Fitz – you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

Converting the Eraring coal-fired power station in NSW’s Hunter region into a nuclear power plant would cost between $70 and $80 billion, Dr McDonnell saysWe’re in the critical decade right now, and Australia can’t wait that long to bring down emissions. And as we replace the coal stations being phased out – as they won’t last until the 2040s – it is renewables that will replace them and by the 2040s, those renewable systems will substantially be in place.

On current prices, the cost of nuclear energy is three to four times the cost of renewable energy, so why would anyone pay this premium? A further problem they have is that while the cost of renewable energy keeps coming down, the cost of nuclear energy keeps going up. So what’s it going to be like in 2040?Nowhere around the world is the private sector saying, “We want to build nuclear reactors and will fund it,” and certainly not here in Australia.

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