Phase Shift: I Could Write About Nuclear. But Then You’d Have to Read It.

The Federal Election has been called, and people are now banging on my door demanding I provide them with some deep analysis on the ‘nuclear debate’. They want to know what I think about Peter Dutton’s grand plan to build nuclear power stations across Australia.

Here’s what I think: I’m not wasting your time or mine.

Not because I’ve got nothing to say. I’ve worked in a nuclear power station in the UK¹. I have a good idea of what’s involved in planning, designing, building, regulating, commissioning, running, fuelling and decommissioning the things. At least a decade of paperwork will crush an army of engineers, pollies, bureaucrats and planners – and that’s before a single ounce of concrete is poured.

It’s not that nuclear is scary or evil or unsafe. I LOVE nuclear engineering. It’s just not gonna happen here. Not in the next fifty years. Likely not ever.

We don’t have the engineers. We don’t have the institutions. We can’t even build a giant water battery in the mountains without losing six years and ten billion bucks. Snowy 2.0 is what happens when you try to dig before thinking. But sure – let’s pretend we’re just a few policy tweaks away from joining France and South Korea.

80% of respondents to a 2024 survey agreed large Australian infrastructure projects are often over budget and behind schedule. Read it and weep.

Big Hydrogen Energy

It reminds me of the hydrogen power station fantasy the South Australian government cooked up a few years ago. Remember that? They swore it was going to help power the state with curtailed wind, hired a whole team of expensive public servants to ‘make it happen’, bought the turbines, did the press conferences. Until one day, quietly, they realised it was a dumb idea. Now they’re flogging the gear on Gumtree like it’s a secondhand mower²

This nuclear plan? Same energy.

An ‘artist’s impression’ of South Australia’s Hydrogen plant. No real photos are available because it hasn’t been built.

Technically Interesting, Totally Pointless

Yes, Dutton might win. Yes, he might spend billions prepping Australia to ‘go nuclear’ – all talk, reports, glossy diagrams, and new departments with four-letter acronyms. But a working power station? That’s never getting built.

For those who’ve asked how it’d affect solar owners if one ever got built, sure, nuclear would affect wholesale prices and feed-in tariffs. But so would a time machine, and we’re not building one of those either.

So no, I’m not writing a serious thinkpiece on nuclear. It’d be like writing a fashion guide for Mars – technically interesting, totally pointless.

Call me when they’ve fuelled the core and started raising the control rods. Until then, it’s just noise, and I’d rather focus my energy on real solutions.

Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/phase-shift-nuclear/