Dutton's folly, page-30

The Coalition’s promise to build seven nuclear power plants starting as soon as 2035 has been met with widespread skepticism by Australia’s energy sector and industry groups, who have warned about the risks of cost blowouts and destroying private sector investment.

AGL Energy and Origin Energy, two of Australia’s largest power producers, also reiterated their concerns about the proposed government intervention.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, announced key details of the nuclear policy on Wednesday, including the location of seven proposed nuclear power plants to be owned by the commonwealth government, a similar model to NBN Co and Snowy Hydro.

Frank Calabria, Origin’s chief executive, said time, cost and compatibility would all be challenges of introducing nuclear, particularly if small modular reactors are the starting point. “I don’t think we can see it being scalable for many years, probably well into the next decade,” Calabria told an energy conference on Wednesday.

plans.

AGL, which owns two of the proposed seven sites, re-issued comments from March by its chief executive, Damien Nicks, that nuclear energy was not a part of its

Peter Dutton names seven potential nuclear power station sites but avoids questions on cost

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“There is no viable schedule for the regulation or development of nuclear energy in Australia and the cost, build time and public opinion are all prohibitive,” Nicks said.

“Policy certainty is important for companies like AGL and ongoing debate on the matter runs the risk of unnecessarily complicating the long-term investment decisions necessary for the energy transition.”

Industry groups offered mixed views, with the mining sector in favour but others demanding details about how much the opposition thought the seven reactors would cost and what interim measures – and costs – might be needed in the meantime since most of the coal-fired power plants are scheduled to close over the next decade.

Getting the states – and the Senate – to overturn bans on nuclear energy added to the uncertainty.