Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to commend the Parliamentary Friends of Nuclear Industries co-hosts, the member for Lyne, Dr David Gillespie, and the member for Kennedy, Mr Bob Katter, on hosting an excellent forum on Thursday and Friday of last week. Thank you for assembling an incredible program of esteemed experts on the cutting edge of nuclear energy research and development—engineers, scientists, economists and lawyers all dedicated to helping inform and facilitate Australia's transition towards a sensible mix of power generation that will support our growing energy needs long into the future.

O'Connor is a vast and diverse electorate spanning over 1.1 million square kilometres. It includes areas critical to Western Australia's energy production, like the coalmining town of Collie, which is preparing to transition to a post-coal future, and hubs of renewable energy projects, like the coastal town of Esperance, home to one of Australia's first commercial wind farms at Ten Mile Lagoon, which is still in operation. As these wind turbines reach their end of life, the Esperance community is moving towards a new, integrated power solution which combines a four-megawatt solar farm of 8,900 photovoltaic panels and two 4.5-megawatt turbines backed up with a four-megawatt battery and a 22-megawatt high-efficiency gas power station.

My electorate also has immense mineral resources—gold, critical minerals like nickel and lithium, and uranium deposits—much of which lies beyond the reach of Western Australia's current electricity grid. Our miners are looking for solutions to their future energy needs.

I recently attended a meeting of O'Connor local government authorities, many seeking to help deliver energy solutions for their regional and remote communities and for the energy-intensive businesses that reside within their shire boundaries. One CEO raised a proposal for his local government authority: an array of solar panels that would cover an area of some 15,000 square kilometres. Another CEO raised concerns about the whole-of-life cost of renewable energy and the disposal of batteries and renewable components. Many of these matters were covered in detail by many of the eminent professors, academics and other energy specialists at last week's nuclear energy form.

The consensus was that small scale modular nuclear reactors, SMRs, were a logical, zero-emission, small-footprint solution that could fit Australia's dispersed energy needs. SMRs can provide reliable base load-power supplemented by renewables like solar and wind. SMRs connected to a conventional transmission line would create enough power to not only meet today's domestic and industrial energy needs but also support the proposed expansion of mining and processing activities well into the future.

Small nuclear reactors are already a way of life in many developed and developing countries. Speakers like Robert Parker, founder of Nuclear for Climate Australia, described the journey of Canada's expanding nuclear power using SMR technology. As a Commonwealth cousin with similar culture, laws, physical landscape and federated political system, Canada presents an opportunity to collaborate on energy systems for climate change mitigation. Today, energy prices for families in Canada are close to half the price Australians are paying.

South-East Asian neighbours such as Japan, India and Korea are expanding their nuclear energy capacity. China is planning to build 150 new reactors in the next 15 years. Lawyer Helen Cook, who has advised on nuclear projects across the globe, detailed how Australia needs to start now to explore nuclear power optionality. The entire process can take around 10 years and we are already far behind the 50 nations currently in train to procure SMRs.

Professor Tony Irwin addressed some of the safety fears that many have, walking us through spent-waste options, which also included reprocessing and supersafe storage. Adjunct Professor Ian Wilson gave us insight into the delicate art of balancing the grid, where fluctuating sources of energy like wind and solar create over saturation or undersupply, requiring supplementation by an energy source that can ramp up and down. Dr Robert Barr, of Electric Power Consulting, walked us through the cost of different energy options, including 63.8 cents per kilowatt hour for 100 per cent renewables only during winter compared with 27.9 cents per kilowatt an hour for an 83 per cent nuclear option. In closing, Dr Robert Parker summarised that rushing to failure with 100 per cent renewables is not an option. We need to fix all generated types to achieve low-cost, low-carbon generation, and there will be no net zero nuclear.

I look forward to the next step of this process, which will include community engagement across my electorate to receive feedback from my constituents. (Time expired)