Dutton Goes Nuclear

That might just win him the election.

Rowan Dean
 
If Peter Dutton and the Coalition really want to win the next election then this is precisely what they should be doing:
Exit WHO
Exit Paris
Withdraw from various UN agencies

Peter Dutton reveals seven sites for proposed nuclear power plants

Peter Dutton announced details of the Coalition’s nuclear energy policy and named the sites for future power plants.(Sarah Ferguson)

Peter Dutton has announced he will go to the next election promising to build seven nuclear power stations.

Mr Dutton has promised the first sites can be operational between 2035 and 2037, several years earlier than the timeframe the CSIRO and other experts believe is feasible.

As had been previously flagged, the stations are all on retiring or retired coal sites.

The seven sites are:

  • Tarong in Queensland, north-west of Brisbane
  • Callide in Queensland, west of Gladstone
  • Liddell in NSW, in the Hunter Valley
  • Mount Piper in NSW, near Lithgow
  • Port Augusta in SA
  • Loy Yang in Victoria, in the Latrobe Valley
  • Muja in WA, near Collie

That’s a breath of fresh air. But it isn’t enough. And Duttons support for censorship is a red flag:

Five of the seven are in Coalition seats: Muja in Rick Wilson’s seat of O’Connor, Loy Yang in Darren Chester’s seat of Gippsland, Port Augusta in Rowan Ramsey’s seat of Grey, Callide in Colin Boyce’s seat of Flynn and Tarong in Nationals leader David Littleproud’s seat of Maranoa.

Mount Piper is in the seat of Calare, held by independent Andrew Gee who was elected as a Nationals MP in 2022 but quit the party.

Liddell is in only site in a Labor seat, the seat of Hunter, held by Labor’s Dan Repacholi.

A map of Australia shows seven nuclear sites, five are shaded blue to indicate Coalition-held seats, one is red for Labor and one is grey for Independent

In a press release, Mr Dutton and colleagues said the locations offered “important technical attributes needed for a zero-emissions nuclear plant, including cooling water capacity and transmission infrastructure, that is, we can use the existing poles and wires, along with a local community which has a skilled workforce”.

The SA and WA sites are tapped as suitable for small modular reactors only, with the other five slated for either small reactors or larger-scale plants, depending on what is deemed to be “the best option”.

Mr Dutton has indicated a 2035 start date if small modular reactors are chosen and 2037 if larger plants are chosen.

Government to own plants but price tag unknown