Energy Minister Chris Bowen has called Nationals leader Matt Canavan \u201chonest\u201d after the Queensland senator conceded a technology key to the Coalition\u2019s nuclear ambitions might not \u201cmake it\u201d commercially.<\/p>\n
In its nuclear pitch to voters last year, the Coalition touted small modular reactors (SMRs) as a quick and easy way to pump atomic energy into the grid.<\/p>\n
Two of the proposed seven nuclear sites were earmarked as SMR only.<\/p>\n
But the technology is expensive and still in development, with the most advanced projects in the US and Canada expected to come online in the next decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly continent on Earth\u201d<\/p>\n
Senator Canavan, one of the Coalition\u2019s staunchest backers of nuclear, admitted on Sunday he did not know if there was a commercially viable future SMRs but said \u201cyou don\u2019t close pathways and doors before they\u2019re necessary\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know whether small module reactors will make it, so to speak, in the commercial space, but we shouldn\u2019t close our eyes to that \u2026 given these enormous energy demands that are coming down the tracks through artificial intelligence and data centres,\u201d he told Sky\u2019s Sunday Agenda.<\/p>\n
\u201cThough, we do know now \u2026 that large scale nuclear reactors do work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do work \u2013 30 countries around the world building them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe remain really the only \u2026 continent on Earth without a nuclear reactor, except for Antarctica.\u201d<\/p>\n
Appearing on the same show a short time later, Mr Bowen dismissed the idea of nuclear energy as \u201ca massive distraction\u201d and SMRs as \u201cthe next big thing\u201d that never came.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hasn\u2019t happened, and there\u2019s been no small modular reactor built anywhere in the Western world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always just about to happen. It\u2019s been about to happen for 40 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Bowen said those \u201cwho promote nuclear, like Matt, are just trying to distract from the progress that we\u2019re making on renewables\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatt\u2019s probably more honest than most when he says, \u2018Yeah, I want to slow renewables.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t really like them, doesn\u2019t support them. So, you come up with this nuclear distraction.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, nuclear is not an answer for Australia any time when we have such cheap and abundant renewables we can harness with the right policy approaches.\u201d<\/p>\n
While SMR projects have proven difficult to get off the ground, nuclear development firm SGE this month revealed plans to build 14 across the UK.<\/p>\n
The SMRs would produce enough energy to power some eight million homes for 60 years.<\/p>\n
During his appearance, Senator Canavan also said Australia should make use of its enormous uranium reserves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got one-and-a-half million tons of uranium,\u201d he said, adding that Kazakhstan holds the world\u2019s second-largest deposits at 800,000 tons.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe export that to other countries. Why wouldn\u2019t we use that ourselves?<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd particularly, given this need to build data centres to take advantage of opportunities like artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see the Googles, the Amazons, the Microsofts of the world are all building nuclear, or supporting the building of nuclear power stations to power their data centres.\u201d<\/p>\n
He questioned why Australians should trust that the Albanese government has \u201cgot it right and Microsoft got it wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy is Chris Bowen right to say no to nuclear, but Google is supporting them in the United States?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we might just have to drop this bloke who\u2019s just remains obsessed with \u2026 a failed plan and start again.\u201d<\/p>\n