Cracks appear in Dutton’s nuclear plans as more details emerge about cheap power offer

Australia has been promised that two government-funded nuclear power stations will be operating by the mid-2030s, under Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s ambitious and uncosted plan to build seven plants by the middle of the century.

The economic package would give businesses in those zones a separate and direct connection to the power plant, enabling them to receive heavily discounted electricity. Two per cent of each plant’s electricity would be provided at or near cost price to drive the creation of new industrial zones, which could host energy-intensive smelters, high-tech industries such as data centres, or even defence industries.

by pledging to dump the government’s target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030.On Wednesday, Dutton said the government had a “renewables-only policy which is not fit for purpose”. But he conceded his policy had not yet been costed. “We will have more to say in relation to the cost in due course, and, as you know, we’ve done this in a step-by-step process. The focus today is on the sites,” Dutton said.

Davey on Wednesday said the opposition would not impose a nuclear reactor against a community’s wishes and declared there were no plans to seek alternative sites beyond the seven already identified. “If a community is absolutely adamant, then we will not proceed, but we won’t look beyond these seven sites,” she said.

Victorian Nationals MP Darren Chester, whose seat of Gippsland includes the Latrobe Valley coal-fired power stations, said the area had some strategic advantages because of existing transmission infrastructure and a skilled workforce. But he cautioned, “more detailed investigations will be required in the years ahead”.

The owners of some of the coal plant sites targeted for nuclear development, including AGL, Origin, EnergyAustralia and Alinta, have previously said they have no plans to develop nuclear energy in Australia.

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