A game-changing way forward for South Australia? Wednesday, 15 February 2017

Opinion piece by Tony Irwin FIEAust CPEng, Chair of Nuclear Engineering Panel, Engineers Australia, Sydney.

Industry in decline, jobs being lost, electricity prices sky-rocketing and blackouts – South Australia needed a ‘get out of jail free card’. Premier Jay Weatherill hoped that nuclear would provide a solution when he announced in March 2015 that he was establishing a Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission (NFCRC) to examine the opportunities and risks for increasing South Australia’s participation in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle (NFC). South Australia was already home to the world’s largest uranium deposit being mined, but were there opportunities for expansion into other parts of the NFC?

Weatherill appointed the well-respected Rear Admiral The Honourable Kevin Scarce, Chancellor of Adelaide University and former Governor of South Australia, as the Commissioner. Four issues papers were produced and 243 submissions received. The NFCRC team visited nuclear facilities worldwide and evidence was taken from 128 expert witnesses from Australia and overseas at public hearings. The final report was issued in May 2016.

The NFCRC found that expansion of NFC activities could be safely managed, but although technically possible, most activities were not commercially viable in the current world, with over-capacity in many of the processes. Although the NFCRC found that it would not be commercially viable to deploy nuclear power in South Australia under current market conditions, they did find that nuclear is a low emissions option that should not be precluded.

The Finkel Review into the future security of the National  Electricity Market is currently examining what changes are required to achieve a reliable, low carbon, lowest cost electricity supply. Could nuclear power be the game-changing technology?

The NFCRC finding that attracted the most attention was the recommendation to establish used nuclear fuel storage and disposal facilities in South Australia for which the analysis showed a significant economic benefit.

This year, Engineers Australia, Sydney’s Nuclear Engineering Panel is hosting the Four Societies* Annual Meeting, to be held on Thursday 23 February. Chancellor Scarce is the guest speaker and his presentation ‘A Nuclear State in a Global Solution’ will focus on the challenge for Australia in moving to a reliable, low carbon and lowest cost electricity system and also whether South Australia could provide a global solution for the disposal of used fuel.

More information and to register for this event.

*The Four Societies are the Australia Institute of Energy (AIE), the Australian Nuclear Association (ANA), the Royal Society of NSW, and Engineers Australia Sydney Nuclear Engineering Panel.

 

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