Climate change expert: Australia will go nuclear by 2030

A University of Adelaide scientist believes it is inevitable that Australia will become a user of the world’s most advanced nuclear power technology, if the country is serious about cutting carbon emissions.

Professor Barry Brook, Director of Climate Science at the university’s Environment Institute, said Australia will eventually turn to nuclear power to meet our sustainable energy needs - and when we do, we will choose to focus on next-generation nuclear technology that provides major safety, waste and cost benefits.

Speaking yesterday on the eve of World Environment Day, Professor Brook said: “Coal, oil, and natural gas are the main cause of recent global warming, and these fossil fuels must be completely replaced with clean sustainable energy sources in the coming decades if serious climate change impacts are to be avoided.

“One particularly attractive sustainable nuclear technology for Australia is the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR). Although the scientific community has known about the benefits of IFR-type designs for many years, there are currently none in commercial operation because the energy utilities are typically too risk averse to ‘bet on’ new technologies. This is a wasted opportunity for Australia and for the rest of the world.

“Integral Fast Reactors are much more efficient at extracting energy from uranium, can use existing nuclear waste for fuel, produce far smaller volumes of waste that does not require long-term geological isolation and can be operated at low cost and high reliability. They are also inherently safer than past nuclear reactors due to passive systems based on the laws of physics.

“In order to restart the nuclear power debate in Australia, it is best to have a solution that overcomes as many public objections as possible: safety, constraints on uranium supplies, long-lived waste, cost and proliferation. The IFR technology offers a vast improvement in all of these areas.”

Professor Brook’s forecast timeline for nuclear power in Australia is as follows:

• 2020: Public and political debate heightens as need for reliable low-carbon electricity mounts
• 2025: First reactor contracts issued, Small Modular Reactors (SMR) built in outback mining sites
• 2030: 3 GWe (gigawatt electrical) of nuclear power connects to national electricity grid
• 2040: Up to 5 GWe of new capacity being installed per year
• 2050: A total of 30-50 GWe installed, located at a dozen ‘energy park’ sites and various remote areas
• 2100: >100 GWe installed for total energy displacement, including replacing oil and gas needs

Professor Brook, a professional ecologist and conservation biologist, has built an international reputation as a commentator on sustainable energy and the potential benefit of nuclear fission in curbing climate change.

He was the first Australian appointed to the international selection committee of the Global Energy Prize. This month he will be a guest at the prize ceremony in St Petersburg, where Russian President Vladimir Putin will present the $1.2 million prize to the 2012 laureates.

Later this month, Professor Brook will also talk about IFR nuclear technology in a special session of the American Nuclear Society to be held in Chicago, USA; and in San Francisco he will attend a meeting of the California-based liberal-environmental think tank The Breakthrough Institute, where he was made a 2012 Senior Fellow.