$16 billion and 16 years to kickstart Australia’s next nuclear plant: CSIRO

A large scale nuclear reactor would cost $16 billion and take nearly two decades to build, according to CSIRO’s latest energy cost report card, calling into question the federal opposition’s plan to develop the controversial power source as part of Australia’s future energy mix.

An earlier December draft attracted controversy for finding that small modular reactors would be far more expensive than renewables or coal and gas. “It’s not relied on. It’s not a genuine piece of work. It doesn’t take into account some of the transmission costs, the costs around subsidies for the renewable,” Dutton said in March. “I would look at the independent, verifiable evidence.”His criticisms prompted Hilton to write an open letter defending the integrity and neutrality of the report, which comes out every year and is aimed at investors.

But even including this cost, renewables came out far cheaper than investing in several nuclear plants. The report noted that the cost of plugging nuclear into the grid remained unknown. The final $16 billion figure was extrapolated using as a rule of thumb the fact that a modern coal plant costs on average 2.8 times more to build in Australia than in South Korea, the closest comparable economy that uses nuclear power.

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