The US Department of Energy 'Liftoff Report' has dealt a major blow to anti-nuclear campaigners in Australia.

Having released their most recent report into nuclear energy, the US DoE has outstanding claims that directly contradict the policy position of the Albanese Government.

The report debunks repeated claims that nuclear is "too expensive" and will "increase power bills" and outlines various other benefits of nuclear energy.

The DoE report could not disagree more with anti-nuclear campaigners in it's evidence that:

1.⁠ The system cost of electricity with nuclear and renewables combination is ~30% lower than just renewables. They use California as example which has more renewables then Australia already.

2.⁠ ⁠The jobs from nuclear are ~50% higher paying than solar or wind.

3.⁠ ⁠CSIRO's GenCost report gets it wrong by orders of magnitude. It assumes nuclear plants are 30 year lifetime, where the DoE report estimates 80 years.

4.⁠ ⁠Nuclear is better for: lowest emissions, most reliable, lowest land use, lowest material use etc

It also outlines a pathway for the US to reach their ambition to triple their nuclear energy capacity by 2050, in direct contradiction of Australia's Government and leaders refusing to legalise nuclear energy.

In light of this data, Nuclear for Australia calls on the Albanese Government and anti-nuclear campaigners to immediately stand down in their opposition to nuclear energy and assist in removing the ban.


GenCost Contradiction

The report found that a balanced mix of renewables and nuclear had system costs 37% lower than renewables only. 

Unlike the widely criticised GenCost report which only considers the 30 year economic lifetime of a nuclear plant, the Nuclear Liftoff Report additionally factors in the the full 80 year+ operating lifetime of a nuclear plant suggesting that LCOE approaches such as those employed by Gencost "underestimates [sic] the value of multi-decade investments that will provide future generations with affordable clean firm power."

Figure 1: Page 13

Figure 2: Page 41

The report also includes illustrative LCOE ranges for different sources of clean energy finding that new nuclear has a similar LCOE range to renewables. 

Figure 3: Page 14


Power Bills

The report addresses the misconception that nuclear power plants increase power bills. 

Page 70: "Nuclear, with 80 years of operations, provides low priced power for future ratepayers for decades (potentially ~50 years) after construction has been paid off (typically ~30 years); however, most frameworks optimize for current ratepayers". 


Jobs & other benefits

The report outlines the additional benefits of nuclear energy including that it has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions, highest reliability (capacity factor), lowest land footprint and lower material intensity than other energy sources. It also found that "nuclear provides firm power that complements renewables in a deeply decarbonised system" (Pg17). 

In addition to these benefits, the report also highlights the employment benefits from nuclear energy. These include more jobs per GW on site and higher pay compared to other energy sources.

Figure 4: Page 20

 


Download the report 


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