Varun Ghosh (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, because they're a different country at a different stage, and in different circumstances—to respond to my colleague's interjection.

In its Levelized Cost of Energy analysis, financial services firm Lazard found that nuclear energy was the most expensive. I mean, they're not a bunch of radicals, but they did confirm the conclusion that was also contained in the CSIRO report. On the Lazard analysis, onshore wind was the cheapest option, at between US$25 and US$73 per megawatt hour; large-scale solar was slightly more expensive per megawatt hour, and nuclear power was between US$145 and US$222 per megawatt hour. That analysis corresponds with the analysis undertaken by the CSIRO recently. Other than sledging that organisation, there's been no substantive response to the cost arguments put. The CSIRO found that renewables would supply electricity from renewable sources at a cost of $89 to $128 per megawatt hour by 2030 and that nuclear power would supply electricity for $136 to $226 per megawatt hour by 2040.

Nuclear power is going to be more expensive. I note that I've probably taken too long on the issue of cost, and my time is about to expire, so I will leave time and feasibility— (Time expired)