Tyron Whitten (WA, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

The world hosts about 420 gigawatts of installed nuclear capacity, and this is expected to rise to about 620 gigawatts by 2050. Today about five per cent of a total of 8.6 terawatts of installed power capacity is nuclear. The over 400 nuclear reactors around the world contribute almost 10 per cent of global electricity generation—about 29,000 terawatt hours in 2022. Only about 40 per cent of global primary energy—over 170,000 terawatt hours—is used to generate electricity. The other 60 per cent is used for industry, heating and transport. Nuclear is the most net-energy efficient and raw-material efficient source of power, with an energy return on investment, or EROI, possibly twice or more that of coal, gas or hydro. Nuclear is also one of the safest forms of power generation, measured in deaths per megawatt hour generated, with the least environmental impact.

Primary energy demand is likely to increase 40 to 50 per cent by 2050, driven by population increase and per capita energy consumption growth of about 25 per cent. Electricity demand will certainly increase faster because of increasing reliance on data centres and AI. It is therefore obvious that nuclear will contribute to this growth. However, in absolute terms, other sources—most likely dispatchable coal and gas but also, if direct and indirect subsidies continue, intermittent wind and solar—will make up the majority of capacity growth.

Small modular reactors are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 megawatts, which is about one-third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors. SMRs, which can produce a large amount of electricity, are small and can be factory assembled and transported easily. SMRs could potentially form part of Australia's future energy mix, utilising existing transmission infrastructure and contributing to much-needed baseload power. As an emerging technology, the potential to balance the grid is important, and SMRs can provide an advantage for Australia as part of the solution to the intermittency being experienced as more wind turbines enter our electricity grid. SMRs can power small towns and form part of a bigger solution.

There are three small modular reactors that are operational in the world. One is in Shandong province, China, which consists of two 200-megawatt capacity reactors and produced 272 gigawatts in 2024. Russia also has two reactors, each with 30-megawatt capacity, that currently provide electricity and heat to an isolated grid in the Chukotka region in the far north-east of Siberia. In 2024, they produced 221 gigawatt-hours of electricity.

Japan has a high-temperature test reactor that the Japan Atomic Energy Agency is planning to use for heat generation for hydrogen production. There is an SMR currently being constructed in Darlington, Ontario, that is licensed to Ontario Power Generation and expected to be operational this year. China also started construction on an SMR on Hainan Island in 2021 which is due to be operational soon.

In the future, we could see microreactors that can sit on the back of a truck and be delivered to encourage off-grid standalone setups in rural areas. We may also see the development of one-megawatt nuclear beta batteries which create very reliable power. These small reactors would run a suburb, requiring distribution lines rather than transmission lines.

The government's target of 82 per cent electricity generated by renewables by 2030 requires 40 wind turbines and 670,000 solar panels per month, plus 10,000 kilometres of additional transmission lines. The estimated cost of this is $8 billion in renewable energy installations and associated infrastructure to replace a $1 billion coal-fired-electricity plant. On average, wind requires 421 times more land than nuclear, with estimates comparing it to the Rolls-Royce SMR, stipulating 10,000 times more land is needed for wind to produce the same output of electricity. In most cases, this land is unsuitable for further use, with exclusion zones needed to avoid the negative health impacts derived from wind turbines. Conventional nuclear power plants and SMRs have a minute development footprint compared to wind turbines and solar installations.

Net Zero Australia estimates that we will need to blanket 17 million hectares of land with wind turbines, power lines and trees to get to net zero. The loss of agricultural productivity will be devastating. You can't eat intermittent electrons. There are 205,000 hectares currently planned for clearing for the construction of wind turbines. This enormous footprint doesn't include the land cleared for transmission lines. This devastating destruction of biodiversity is reckless, permanent and criminal, and where are the Greens? The total number of proposed wind towers mapped in Australia is 35,127, and 3,804 of these are offshore. There are already 4,669 wind turbines in operation. Excluding offshore destruction, that gives us a footprint of 3,979,600 hectares. Then there is the total surface area required for solar. Existing panels cover 29,675 hectares, and another 447,134 hectares is proposed. The length of the proposed new haulage roads for wind turbines is 46,167 kilometres. The undersea cabling length for offshore wind is 16,973 kilometres, and no-one has ever done a real cost-benefit analysis. One Nation will put a stop to this insanity. We anticipate a saving of approximately $30 billion per year by abolishing net zero. Australians shouldn't have to fund a Temu electricity grid.

Senate adjourned at 21 : 13