Science and energy agencies unpack the price of nuclear

ENERGY PRODUCTION COSTS

* Using nuclear power to generate Australia’s energy needs would be twice as expensive as relying on renewable sources, the CSIRO and Australian Energy Market Operator have found.

* Building a single large-scale nuclear reactor would cost $8.5 billion and could take beyond 2040 to complete due to infrastructure, security and safely hurdles.

* Overall, renewable energy costs would be lowest at $73 to $128 per megawatt hour, while nuclear costs would hit $141 to $233.

* Nuclear small modular reactors would cost $230 to $382 per megawatt hour.

* Due to the scale of nuclear power plants, a large reserve would have to be built to cover outages when no coal plants were in operation.

* The coalition has promised to add nuclear power to the energy grid but is yet to release details including cost and location.

Source: CSIRO and Australian Energy Market Operator’s GenCost report

Bray Boland
(Australian Associated Press)