Australian opposition includes country’s first nuclear power plants in its energy plan ahead of election

MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia’s main opposition party announced plans on Wednesday to build Australia’s first nuclear power plants as early as 2035, arguing that government policies to decarbonise the economy through renewable energy sources including solar power, wind turbines and green hydrogen will not deliver results.

The policy announcement ensures that the major parties will be divided on how Australia will cut greenhouse gas emissions at the election next year. The parties have not gone to the polls with the same carbon-cutting policies since 2007.

“I’m very happy that the election will be a referendum on energy, nuclear, electricity prices, lights out and who has a sustainable path for our country,” Opposition Leader Peter Dutton told reporters.

The seven government-owned reactors will be built on the sites of aging coal-fired power stations in five of Australia’s six states, Dutton said. The first two would be built between 2035 and 2037, with the last in the 2040s. Cost estimates would be announced later, he said.

The current centre-left government has rejected nuclear power generation in Australia as too expensive. Too many coal-fired generators would be retired before nuclear could fill the gap.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has accused the conservative opposition Liberal Party of favouring influential lobbyists for the Australian coal and gas industry.

“It’s not really an announcement. We know that Mr Dutton wants to slow down the deployment of renewables and he wants to bring in the most expensive form of energy that is slow to build,” Bowen told reporters.

“But today we haven’t seen any costs, we haven’t seen any gigawatts, we haven’t seen any details. It’s a joke. It’s a serious joke because it threatens our transition” from fossil fuels, Bowen added.

Bowen’s Labor Party came to power at the 2022 election promising deeper cuts in Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 than the previous coalition government had committed.

The previous Liberal government promised to cut emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade.

Labour promised a 43 per cent cut and Parliament enshrined that target in law, making it harder for future governments to limit it while providing certainty for investors.

Dutton has ruled out announcing a new 2030 target before the next election. However, the major parties have agreed to a net-zero emissions target by 2050.

Dutton said Labor would not meet its 2030 target if its policies relied solely on renewable energy.

A Liberal-led government would use nuclear power, renewables and “significant amounts of gas,” Dutton said.

“I want to make sure the Australian public understands today that we have a vision for our country to deliver cleaner electricity, cheaper electricity and stable electricity,” Dutton said.

Australia has historically been one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases per capita due to its heavy reliance on large reserves of cheap coal and gas.

Continued conflict between the main parties over the past 17 years over how to reduce emissions led to the carbon tax introduced by the Labor government in 2012 being repealed by the Liberal government in 2014.

Australia’s only reactor has been producing nuclear isotopes for medical use since 1958. It is located in the Sydney suburb of Lucas Heights.

Dutton said the country could now only consider nuclear power generation after major parties agreed in 2019 to the AUKUS partnership with the United States and Britain, which would see Australia receive a fleet of submarines powered by American nuclear technology.