Australia needs to move quickly to replace its ageing coal-fired power stations.
We have already lost six coal-fired power stations in the last decade, and twelve more are scheduled to close by 2040.
90% of our coal-fired power will close by 2035.
We cannot keep these power stations open forever. As they approach the end of their life, they become less and less reliable.
Nuclear will not keep the lights on or our manufacturing onshore: the earliest that we can build a nuclear reactor is 2040. And it will take decades longer to build all the reactors we need to power the grid. And that’s if there are no unplanned delays.
Around the world, the construction of nuclear reactors has often taken far longer than expected.
Australia cannot afford to wait. Nuclear is a waste of time.
In Australia, the process would take even longer, because there would first need to be legislative change (nuclear power is currently prohibited by law) and further time would be lost upskilling workers and establishing supply chains.
