Media

While the Coalition has failed to release any detail or costings, today we have confirmation that if it gets into office, Australians will be paying a mult-billion dollar “nukebuilder” tax for generations to come for a national build out of government-owned nuclear reactors across seven locations, including on the sites of former coal-fired power stations. It beggars belief that opposition leader Peter Dutton proposes nationalising a nuclear public debt bomb and detonating it at the heart of energy policy in this country. Read more

Tim Buckley, director of think tank Climate Energy Finance, said Australians would be paying “a multi-billion dollar ‘nukebuilder’ tax for generations to come by being forced to front the cash for a national buildout of government-owned nuclear reactors”. “Electricity prices would skyrocket as private investment in new replacement capacity is crowded out, resulting in undersupply for the next 15-25 years while we wait for the LNP’s nuclear white elephants to arrive,” Buckley said. Read more

Syndicated in News Corp state based mastheads across Australia – Climate Energy Finance Director Tim Buckley says Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s plan to use nuclear energy is “financially illogical”. Read more

Director of think tank Climate Energy Finance Tim Buckley says nuclear is “financially illogical” and is about extending “climate wars”. Mr Buckley told Sky News the proposed plan announced today does little to address the current climate challenges, and the infrastructure delivery plan is not commercially viable. “We have no nuclear capacity in Australia,” he said. “We don’t have the workforce, and we can’t afford the 20+ year delay (opposition leader) Peter Dutton is proposing today.” {scroll down to 4:06pm post at link). Read more

Tim Buckley takes a deep dive into the LNP’s nuclear energy ‘policy’ on Sky Afternoon Agenda with Ashleigh Gillion detailing why it makes zero sense here, including that it’s uninvestable, meaning the taxpayer will be gouged billions to bankroll it, the energy produced is too expensive at double the coast of renewables and it would be too late, with first operation not until 2040 at the earliest – and when firmed renewables provide an available least cost solution to our energy and climate crises. Read more

Syndicated globally via AFP – Australia’s conservative opposition will build nuclear power plants across the country if it wins the next election, according to plans detailed Wednesday that have reignited debate over climate policy. Opposition leader Peter Dutton said he would overturn a 26-year nuclear ban to build seven government-owned reactors on the sites of ageing coal-fired power stations.Climate finance expert Tim Buckley said nuclear power in Australia was “impossible”. “The idea that nuclear could be up and running in 2035-37 is fanciful, and even that is too late given our concurrent climate and energy crises,” he said. Read more

As Tim Buckley says on ABC TV’s The Business, nuclear is the most expensive option for Australia and the technology in the Australian context is entirely unproven – notwithstanding the claims to the contrary by the Coalition. Read more

The biggest problem of nuclear energy is “the technology in the Australian context is entirely unproven”, according to Climate Energy Finance director Tim Buckley, “We don’t have any of the supply chains, any of the labour, skilled workforce or knowledge to actually do it,” he said. He said it was “impossible” for any private investor (without taxpayer subsidies) to take on the risk of building a nuclear power plant. Read more

Sun-soaked Australia’s lofty renewable energy ambitions were given a harsh reality check on Thursday, as looming electricity shortfalls delayed the long-awaited shutdown of the country’s largest coal-fired power plant. In many cases, nuclear makes sense for energy-deficient countries that had no domestic renewable options, such as Japan, energy analyst Tim Buckley told AFP. “Nuclear has no future in Australia,” he said. “Australia has not continuously built it, we have none of the skillset, none of the engineering, and none of the capacity for nuclear.” Read more

The new CSIRO GenCost 2023-24 report released this week makes for very interesting reading. In the report, the Australian Government’s independent scientific body subjects the nuclear barracking of Peter Dutton and Ted O’Brien to a comprehensive science and economics based, peer reviewed debunking. Peter Dutton has now pivoted to spruiking large scale nuclear reactors, having repeatedly thumped the table last year asserting in the face of all the available evidence that small modular reactors are the solution for Australia’s energy transition, with a similar reception from the CSIRO. Read more

As a new CSIRO report demonstrates once and for all that nuclear is not viable in Australia as a zero-emissions energy source, Tim Buckley explains that nuclear would lock in permanent, ultra-high energy prices for Australians. Read more

Tim Buckley breaks down the new CSIRO GenCost report out today which finds that a large-scale nuclear reactor would take at least until 2040 to build, cost around $17bn and produce power costing twice as much as firmed renewables, definitively showing that Peter Dutton’s nuclear fantasy is a complete furphy. Read more