Will Shackel appeared on Weekend NewsDay to discuss news that China is joining the global triple nuclear pledge.
Watch Will's full interview:
Interview Transcript
Jaynie Seal (Host): For more, joining us live is Nuclear for Australia founder Will Shackel. Great to see you, Will. So, it all kind of ties in to what you do in terms of nuclear. That debate continuing. The increased need for energy has certainly been a talking point along with water. We're going to need a lot of more water as we have these data centers come through. So, how much in general are we going to need, do you think?
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): Well, Australia's electricity demand is set to nearly double by 2050. So, we need to be looking at all clean sources of energy, including nuclear power, which is being used around the world to help power data centers. Meta, Google, Open AI are entering deals to use nuclear power plants to power their data centers because they're so energy hungry. They need a reliable, clean energy supply and nuclear power is really well positioned to provide that.
Jaynie Seal (Host): And Will, there was an announcement last night with China and France. Talk us through that.
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): So previously 33 countries had signed a global pledge to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050 which was yet another indication of the nuclear industry uh going ahead moving ahead expanding capacity worldwide. And in exciting news overnight uh there's been news that China is going to join that commitment to triple nuclear bringing it to 34 countries around the world. So currently 31 countries have nuclear power. Around 60 are either in the process of adding it to their mix or considering it. But in addition to that, we've got 34 countries including some of the biggest nations now such as the US, France, and China all committed to triple global nuclear supply, which will be absolutely critical for meeting the world's energy demands, keeping uh the lights on, and also keeping power affordable.
Jaynie Seal (Host): You talk about energy demands, but what about for the environment? for people listening now who are concerned about lowering emissions. Talk us through that in terms of civil nuclear.
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): So nuclear power has the lowest emissions of any energy source over its life cycle. A lot of people might see a cooling tower and think that that's smoke coming out of the nuclear power plant, it's actually water vapor. The reason nuclear power has such low emissions is because of its energy density. So it stacks up in the same way that a solar panel or wind turbine helps lower emissions. So if we're interested in lowering the carbonite lowering emissions around the world, nuclear power will be absolutely critical. During the history of the world, it's reduced global emissions by around 2 years. So it's absolutely critical if we're going to meet global and also Australian decarbonisation targets.
Jaynie Seal (Host): We have had that debate obviously with nuclear power plants potentially being built here and the time frame and the cost but also if we just lifted bans. Uh correct me if I'm wrong but the Northern Territory in South Australia already export uranium but other places like WA has still still has the moratorum. We could potentially make $1 billion a year is my understanding from WA alone if we did lift those bans and quote significantly lower emissions across the world is what many professors in nuclear technology have told me. So is that the case and how easy would it be to do that?
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): So Australia has the largest uranium reserves in the world but currently with only the fourth largest exporter. Currently, South Australia is doing the majority of the work, but we've got restrictions in states such as WA and Queensland. Now, if we were to unlock our full potential, that could have a huge role in global decarbonization. Already, our exports are equivalent to providing energy around the world to about 70% of Australia's total electricity demand. So, to put that into perspective, if we were to unlock our full uranium, we could have a huge role in basically offsetting Australia's emissions if we wanted to help the rest of the world. It's one thing not to use our own uranium, but surely we should allow other countries who are on a decarbonization journey with nuclear power to use this resource that we have in abundance in Australia.
Jaynie Seal (Host): And Will just finally, you were grilled in Senate estimates and um you were questioned regarding um what you deliver in terms of uh knowledge to all sides of government and I'm sorry to hear how many um negative threats that you've had from the public. What would you like to say to people who are perhaps unsure about nuclear as an energy? I know that you're not on one side at all. You're just there to provide information. Can you uncover the myths? I've only got about I think 30 seconds or so to to answer this question, though.
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): Look, I think the most important thing is that people get informed and you can go to our website nuclear forustralia.com to get the facts on nuclear power. It's been a really polarizing debate. We've had a massive nuclear fear campaign with over $3 million spent on nuclear disinformation which we saw at the last election. that right now our priority is making sure that all Australians have access to the facts whether it's through social media, our campaigns, events as well and importantly that we're engaging all sides of politics because around the world nuclear is a uniting issue that brings people together because it can lower emissions provide affordable power, lower power bills and make sure that these ind that these regional communities which are currently using thermal power stations like coal can stay afloat with high-paying union jobs. So I think it ticks a lot of boxes for a lot of people and it's something that we need to seriously consider in Australia lifting that ban.
Jaynie Seal (Host): All right. And just finally, you did mention the the smoke or the water. Remind us again. So what we see with those nuclear power plants, it is not smoke, it is water vapour.
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): Correct. It's water vapor and it's not actually the nuclear reactor itself. There's a separate containment structure which contains the reactor. That's simply to reduce the amount of water that's needed and to provide cooling for the uh to condense the steam back into water in the separate water cycle for a nuclear power plant.
Jaynie Seal (Host): Will Shackel, thank you so much. Always great to see you and appreciate your expertise. Take care.
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): Thank you.
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