DEAR News of the Area,

I’VE read many opinions over nuclear energy in recent editions.

As a 45-year career retired engineer in power generation I thought I’d provide some facts.

There are around 440 nuclear reactor steam powered electrical generation plants in operation around the world today.

Thirty countries will soon be introducing them for the first time and 24 of the major economic countries at COP 28 signed an agreement to triple their current domestic nuclear reactor steam energy output to bring down greenhouse gasses.

Some might ask why?

Well, a nuclear reactor isn’t scary.

It’s not a weapon of war. We use nuclear isotopes in medicine every day.

And it’s not actually nuclear electrical energy at all.

The reactor simply boils water using a different fuel material to coal or gas.

Uranium is used by the reactor which boils plain old water to generate steam to turn the same traditional turbo generator that we use today to create electricity.

It’s clean, emissions free energy and once built will do this 24/7 for around 80 years independent of the weather outside.

This is needed for a modern economy, an industrial base, for jobs, your children’s jobs, future new high skilled careers, and our quality of life.

You cannot do this on part time electricity generation such as renewables.

No country is doing it.

Rooftop solar can provide the national energy market up to 30 percent of the supply needed when the weather supports it and if you have rooftop solar you get paid around 5c/KWhr as a tariff infeed, however every night large scale solar disappears until the morning provided it’s sunny that next day.

Hospitals for example don’t shut overnight.

So, you cannot over saturate your energy system with just weather dependent part time electricity generation without firming it.

Batteries will do this for a short period of time before they go flat and need to be recharged if there is energy available to do that.

Battery energy is currently the most expensive market input at about $245MW/h.

Way more than coal, gas, or nuclear which around half this amount or less.

The other problem is that the world’s nuclear energy regulation is over 70 years old, so nuclear plants are way more expensive than they need to be to build.

Modern day nuclear plants are incredibly safe to operate.

Regulation in Australia will need to be changed anyway with AUKUS submarines soon arriving.

Politicians also need to get out of the way and let the free market set the price and stop subsidising everything with taxpayers’ money.

In the National Electricity Market (NEM), when the most expensive energy like batteries is being regularly called upon, it sets the price, and every generator is paid that amount.

That is why despite all our renewables your power bill is through the roof.

As for radioactive waste, the amount of waste after 80 years of nuclear reactor steam boiler operation is miniscule.

It fits safely in drum containers within about half the size of a standard swimming pool.

Geotechnical storage also safely places this waste very deep into the crust of the earth forever and is no different to your day-to-day waste going into a local landfill site.

Regards,
Derek MUSGROVE,
Tea Gardens.