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100 per cent renewables study needs a makeover

By Martin Nicholson - posted Wednesday, 8 May 2013


As well as reducing capital costs, nuclear power for the NEM rather than a 100 per cent renewable system offers other benefits. Significant less land is required and there is less need to upgrade the transmission network. Land use in the USA for nuclear plants averages 3.6 sq kms per GW. So we could expect to use less than 100 sq kms of land rather than the 2,400 to 5,000 sq kms needed for the 100 per cent renewable system.

Also, more changes to the transmission network may be needed for the 100 per cent renewable system than one using nuclear. The costs of these network changes will be added to retail electricity prices.

It seems that the emissions reduction targets by 2050 can be achieved using nuclear power to replace coal at less than half the capital cost of a 100 per cent renewable system without increasing electricity prices.

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It seems hardly surprising that countries like China, India, Russia and Korea are building nuclear plants as well as renewable energy systems given the cost and other resource savings.

Australia wants the lowest cost solution to reducing GHG emissions. The DCCEE must request AEMO to perform a further study to consider a scenario including nuclear power.

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About the Author

Martin Nicholson lives in the Byron Bay hinterland. He studied mathematics, engineering and electrical sciences at Cambridge University in the UK and graduated with a Masters degree in 1974. He has spent most of his working life as business owner and chief executive of a number of information technology companies in Australia. He is the author of the book Energy in a Changing Climate and has had several opinion pieces published in The Australian and The Financial Review. Martin Nicholson's website is here.

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