The Dud claims that his policy is cheaper . Despite it being widely known that nuclear is much more expensive. ln the interim while he waits decades for even one nuke to be built he says he will rely " heavily " on gas generation . Gas generation is the most expensive form of electricity generation in Australia by a mile. That's why we never used it and only built gas fired generators for peaking or black start reasons .
So. Not sure how replacing coal with much more expensive gas for a decade or two is cheaper ?
To be fair Labor's plan does rely on some gas generation but that is an insurance policy while they roll out renewables as fast as they can . They don't intend to use it as a replacement for coal for decades like the Dud's plan.
The Dud's plan for repurposing the old coal sites means that depending on how many nukes he ends up using they will only supply about 10% of the grid demand . That's a number put out there by several industry pundits and hasn't been challenged by any of the nuclear shills. So the rest of the grid supply will have to be renewables . Don't forget he is still committed to net zero by 2050 so he will have to have 90% renewables rather than gas . Not sure how that fits in with his criticism of Labor's " 28000 kms of poles and wires " that he bangs on about ?
The Dud has plans to reuse old coal sites . He claims that they have the water and the grid connections that they can transfer to the nukes .
Trouble is that can't happen.
ln the case of the Latrobe Valley in Victoria they have 3 big open cut mines all very close together . Engie is struggling to find enough water to fill the old Hazelwood mine. lt's going to take decades to fill and if we have another long drought like we did in the early 2000s all bets are off. AGL has publicly stated that it is going to use it's annual Loy Yang water allocation until 2060 so there's no spare water for nukes there. The Yallourn power station is due to shutdown in 2028 so no doubt there water allocation won't be available for decades while they refill their mine .
Further to that AGL intends to build a large battery at the Loy Yang site. That connection is also going to be used for all the offshore wind from Gippsland . Those wind projects will easily use up any spare capacity . The Hazelwood connection already has a battery and is the intended connection point for the second Marinus link project . Energy Australia intends to build a big battery on the Yallourn site once the CFPS shuts down so its connection won't be available either .
l could go on but l think that's enough for one session.
The Dud's nuclear policy is dead . Just like his political career.
