Western Australia’s chief scientist Peter Klinken says nuclear energy talk needs to be taken seriously

Western Australia’s chief scientist says nuclear power “has to be on the table” in discussions about the country’s energy mix but is sceptical it can be delivered in time for looming decarbonisation targets. Mr Klinken — an independent scientific adviser to government since 2014 — is of the view WA needs to be advancing all the renewable power sources it can and considers gas a key resource in the energy transition. And while he has doubts regarding the logistical and legislative barriers to nuclear, he said it should be looked at “seriously”. “It has to be on the table. It has to be part of the equation for our suite of energy sources. As I said though, from all the analysis that I’ve seen and I’ve done . . . it’s going to take too long for Australia to be able to get into the nuclear space.” Plans for more wind and solar are already well established in Australia, and its embrace of solar panels on homes has been lauded as a win from an emissions and costs perspective. Introducing nuclear power has become a spirited political issue in Australia since Opposition Leader Peter Dutton launched a plan to build five nuclear reactors at the sites of coal-fire power stations in 2024. Uranium mining is effectively banned in WA and prospects of overturning the ban, despite calls from industry, have received a substantial push backwards after WA Labor was re-elected. Mr Klinken’s concern is that large nuclear reactors will not be ready by the time WA switches off its coal-fired power stations in the mid 2030s and that other faster options need to be pursued to meet national net-zero by 2050 targets. Speaking to The West Australian after presenting at the Energy Exchange Australia conference, he also raised that nuclear power’s water needs could be difficult to meet in WA’s hot and dry climate. “The cost of nuclear and the time to produce nuclear is going to be a challenge,” he said. “Nuclear power requires an awful lot of water to cool. And for a country, the driest continent on the planet and in WA in particular, that becomes a challenge. “I think we need to be looking at it seriously, trying to work out where it fits into the mix, but be realistic about how long it’s going to take. And the other thing is, our legislation says we can’t do it so until we’ve actually agreed at a legislative level, it ain’t going anywhere.” Ambitions for green hydrogen have also been dented by the prospect of high electricity costs rendering projects economically unviable. Mr Klinken is due to finish his decade-long term with the State Government in June.