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Will Shackel interviewed by Jaynie Seal on News24.
Interview Transcript:
Jaynie Seal (Host): Well, for more joining us live is Will Shackel, founder of Nuclear for Australia. Will, great to see you. What did you make of those comments from those leaders?
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): Well, in many of these comments, we were seeing that the premier and the prime ministers [sic] were becoming increasingly more pro-nuclear. But at the end of the day, all of those statements could be correct about nuclear not stacking up economically. But the one way to prove it is by lifting the ban on nuclear power. We should have all clean energy options on the table. We know that we're going to need a lot more energy in the future around double uh of our grid in order to meet the rising electricity demand of data centers uh as well as electrification in Australia. So we should be exploring every option particularly a proven option like nuclear power used in over 30 countries around the world.
Jaynie Seal (Host): I don't know about you but I sort of sense that their narrative has softened certainly over the last few years that you and I've been speaking here on these news programs and certainly talking to ministers. Would you agree? Because I mean we heard Chris Mins there saying that at some point they might look at opening up the the moratorum. It's not a stronger no that it used to be. Would you agree with that?
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): I do agree. And this week it was reported by Politico that Labor insiders have actually admitted that the days of the nuclear moratorum in Australia are numbered. They understand that it doesn't make sense to say on one hand that you support nuclear power, that you're not ideological because they simply can't be investing billions into the Orcus nuclear submarine program whilst being opposed to nuclear power on land. If nuclear power is safe, if nuclear power is a good technology for the rest of the world, as a lot of these uh state leaders as well as the prime minister often do say, then why not lift the ban on nuclear power? at least allow the option of it and if it doesn't stack up then it simply won't be built.
Jaynie Seal (Host): So if the moratorum was lifted what could we do then?
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): Well, then we'd have the option to look at all of the different technologies on offer around the world. And there's a lot of exciting progress, particularly now in the US and Canada where we've got small modular reactors under construction in the US where there's now six micro reactors which have achieved criticality, which means they've had a self-sustaining chain reaction including one developed by a series of Australians deployable energy. So there's so many technology developments underway and for Australia, we'd be able to look at all of these cons all of these options being rolled out around the world and choose which ones are best for us or look at large nuclear reactors which are already proven and established around the world including in some of Australia's closest partners such as the United States, France, United Kingdom, Finland. It's an option that the rest of the world is considering. So, we would have all of these different uh technologies available to Australia to help meet our rising electricity demand.
Jaynie Seal (Host): And there's quite a few aspects of this, isn't there? Because people that are very concerned about our climate and and the change that people think that is happening, this is a really good type of technology to lower emissions and also for people who are perhaps further um you know, in line with um One Nation and the Coalition, they are generally pro- nuclear as well. talk us through what small modular reactors are and micro reactors.
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): So compared to a large nuclear reactor around a thousand megawatts capable of powering uh hundreds of thousands or even millions of homes small modular reactor typically around a third of that around 300 megawatt so hundreds of thousands of homes or a micro reactor which can be taken around on a shipping container around you know the 1 to 10 megawatt so considerably smaller uh in terms of the amount of power produced in those kind of reactors. But the exciting thing about them is uh there's more options for private financing of those kind of reactors. They're finally being deployed going from powerpoints to power plants as many people in the nuclear industry have observed recently and they could also be a lot quicker to deploy in Australia. So we've got all of these different options. There's actually over 80 small modular reactor designs. So it just goes to show that there are all of these different technologies that our ban our ban restricts absolutely every single one of them uh despite uh the applications that they could have in Australia from powering our grid, powering data centers, remote communities, there's so many different options for nuclear to make a contribution to Australia's energy needs.
Jaynie Seal (Host): But when the opposition talks about cost, how serious is this and what can you tell us in regards to the CSIRO costings?
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): Well, I think the most important thing is not to look at the paper reports in Australia, but actually look to what's happening around the world and over 38 countries [Correction - only 38 countries, not 'over 38'] representing 70% of global GDP are committed to tripling nuclear power globally. They understand that it makes sense for them in the mix. they have done the modeling to show that clearly uh it's going to make a positive contribution for their energy needs and I think we can look to those examples including those that are similar to us and understand that it could also make an a contribution in Australia importantly we're also seeing that rise of private investment that I talked about including the tech companies such as Microsoft Meta Google Amazon all investing in nuclear power so if we can have the option of the private industry investing in nuclear then obviously that's also going to make a reference to that cost question.
Jaynie Seal (Host): Founder for Nuclear Australia, Will Shackel. Thank you as always.
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