{"id":68442,"date":"2022-12-05T07:20:02","date_gmt":"2022-12-04T20:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=68442"},"modified":"2022-12-05T07:20:02","modified_gmt":"2022-12-04T20:50:02","slug":"talk-time-nuclear-mb2739","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/talk-time-nuclear-mb2739\/","title":{"rendered":"Ted O’Brien Says It’s Time To Talk Nuclear (Again!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Nuclear<\/p>\n

Nuclear power booster Ted O’Brien has launched a website and survey in an effort to see his small modular reactor (SMR) dreams come true in Australia.<\/p>\n

Ted O’Brien is currently the Federal Member for Fairfax and Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy. He’s big on nuclear energy. Among his past activities, Mr. O\u2019Brien chaired the House Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy. In 2019, he stated<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia should say a definite \u2018No\u2019 to old nuclear technologies but a conditional \u2018Yes\u2019 to new and emerging technologies such as small modular reactors.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This was in relation to the Committee’s report on a way forward for nuclear technology in Australia, which SQ’s Ronald dissected here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr. O’Brien has a penchant for small modular reactor (SMR) technology, which essentially involves building bits of small nuclear power stations off-site and putting them together on-site.<\/p>\n

The fact there are no terrestrial-based SMR power stations commercially operating aside, a recent study out of Stanford University suggests most small modular reactor designs are inferior<\/a> to conventional nuclear reactors in several very important aspects. But even ignoring that and various other issues, there is a simple reason Australian power stations will never go nuclear<\/a> – it’s simply too expensive.<\/p>\n

In relation to SMR tech specifically, last month we reported a proposed project in the USA appears to be following the trend set by bigger plants planned or under construction \u2013 increasingly pricey power<\/a>. And that looks likely to happen even with a fistful of fed subsidies thrown at it.<\/p>\n

Time to Talk Nuclear Launched<\/h2>\n

But regardless, Ted O’Brien has continued to whip this dead horse with the launch of his \u201cTime to Talk Nuclear<\/a>\u201d campaign. He states it’s a program of community engagement putting “the Australian people at the centre of a national discussion on advanced nuclear technology”.<\/p>\n

Central to the campaign is the web site, which has an interesting backstory<\/a> and includes a survey with just 3 questions:<\/p>\n