Does nuclear power have a future in Australia? These numbers will help cut through the debate

As the shift away from fossil fuels gathers pace, the Coalition has turned to an emissions-free technology that has a long and contentious history — nuclear fission.

Three of them are obvious and fit firmly in the renewable category – hydro-electricity, wind and solar power. Nuclear reactors are effectively giant kettles, boiling water through the process of splitting uranium atoms and using the steam generated to drive a turbine.Firstly, it's what's known as a synchronous generator, meaning it produces power at a rate that matches the "heartbeat" of the alternating current electricity system.

It's almost 70 years since the world's first commercial nuclear power station opened at Calder Hall in Cumbria in north-west England. "It requires large increases in efficiency and renewables investment, as well as an increase in nuclear power.""But if there is a country that has a lot of resources from other sources, such as solar and wind, I wouldn’t see nuclear as a priority option. I’m talking about Australia now."

Wind and solar, while starting from a low base, are growing faster than any other power source in history, as they undercut the profit margins of fossil fuels. One of the reasons the Coalition is proposing nuclear is around the cost of the clean energy transition, but when the CSIRO looked at the figures it found that it is a significantly more expensive option.

It also warned that the nuclear cost could only be achieved by building nuclear power at scale, so multiple reactors one after the other. The first power plant would be subject to what's called a "first of its kind" multiplier, which could double the price fromNuclear isn't alone in facing this cost, it's applied to any technology a country hasn't built before, and we only have to look at the NBN or Snowy 2.0 to see the likely outcome.

Taking this conservative approach means the CSIRO's figures are far more generous to nuclear than international comparisons. Prices for renewable energy and batteries have been dropping precipitously as they're deployed at a greater scale. Nuclear costs, meanwhile, have been rising since 2009.

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