Australia’s biggest opposition party has revealed plans to develop the country’s first nuclear power stations as early as 2035.
The policy decision on Wednesday ensures that Australia’s major parties will be divided on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the coming year’s elections.
“I’m very happy for the election to be a referendum on energy, nuclear, power prices, lights going out, and who has a sustainable pathway for our country going forward,” opposition leader Peter Dutton told reporters.
Dutton announced that seven government-owned reactors would be built on the sites of outdated coal-fired electrical stations in five of Australia’s six states.
The first two would be built between 2035 and 2037, with the last in the 2040s. He stated that the projected expenditures would be published at a later date. Since 2007, the parties have not run elections with the same carbon-reduction policies.
Australia’s current center-left government has rejected nuclear power development as being prohibitively expensive. Too many coal-fired units would have been shut down before nuclear power could fill the void.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen accused the conservative opposition Liberal Party of catering to Australia’s powerful coal and gas industry lobbyists.
“This isn’t actually an announcement. “We know that Mr Dutton wants to slow the rollout of renewables and introduce the most expensive and slow-to-build form of energy,” Bowen told reporters.
“But today, we have seen no charges, no gigawatts, and no details. This is a joke. “It’s a serious joke because it threatens our transition” from fossil fuels, Bowen said.
Bowen’s Labour Party won the 2022 elections, vowing to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than the previous coalition government had agreed to by 2030.
Dutton has ruled out declaring a new 2030 target before the next election. However, the major parties have agreed on a net-zero emissions objective for 2050.
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