As many as three nuclear reactors planned for Collie as Rick Wilson admits he has no ‘actual numbers’ on cost

O’Connor MP Rick Wilson has backtracked on his estimate a small nuclear reactor in Collie would cost between $5 billion and $7 billion — admitting he actually has no idea how much the as-yet-unproven technology will cost. Speaking in Collie on the day Opposition Leader Peter Dutton announced his nuclear energy policy, Mr Wilson was asked the price tag of the small modular reactor (SMR) proposed for the South West Town. He responded that “the numbers I’ve seen are between $5 billion and $7 billion”, adding it was “not a huge amount of money” in the context of the Commonwealth budget. In a subsequent interview on Sky News on Monday, Mr Wilson said his original estimate was based on the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in the United Arab Emirates – a conventional large nuclear plant comprised of four reactors that “cost between $20 billion and $30 billion”. “It was kind of misinterpreted… that I was referring to a small modular reactor because I was standing in Collie when I made those comments,” Mr Wilson said. “I don’t think anybody has got any actual numbers for small modular reactors.” Pressed on whether that lack of clarity over the cost of SMRs was a fatal flaw in the Coalition plan, Mr Wilson conceded “it would be much better if we did have numbers”. “There are three operating in China, which is not particularly transparent about the cost of them,” he said. “There’s one in Russia, there’s one in India. “So it’s very hard to get a handle on the actual cost of these things. “But, you know, the Chinese don’t build these things because they lose money. They would have built them because it fitted the purpose that they had.” Under the plan announced by Mr Dutton, the first two of seven nuclear power stations would be operational by 2037, with the remainder online by 2050. All would be Commonwealth-funded and operated and built on the site of existing coal-fired power stations. Mr Wilson said Collie “wasn’t slated as one of the first two priority projects” and that the economics of nuclear in WA had not yet been tested. “As this technology comes online and becomes better known, then we’ll have a much better idea of whether it’s a viable proposition or not,” he said. He revealed the Coalition envisaged placing as many as three SMRs in Collie, to take advantage of the existing 880MW of transmission capacity in the town. “Two or three small modular reactors, around 200 to 300MW (each), seems to me to make perfect sense, in a technical sense,” he said. “Now, whether the economics pan out, we’ll find out in the fullness of time.” Because SMRs were still emerging as a technology, Mr Wilson said was “more prudent” for the first Australian plants to be located on the eastern seaboard. “The east coast obviously has a greater need, necessity, to get that extra capacity online sooner,” he added. “Western Australia still does have plentiful gas, and that will fill the gap. There’s no question about that. “But… when you get to 2050, you can’t use gas.” Challenged on why gas could not remain part of a net zero grid provided its use was offset, Mr Wilson said nuclear did not require any offsets. “That’s the point — and gas becomes more expensive as you’ve got to find offsets,” he said. With around a sixth of Collie’s 6000 residents working in either coal mining or coal-fired power generation, Mr Wilson said there was a major jobs cliff approaching when coal exited the WA power grid from 2030. “My view is that particularly the blue-collar workers, the coal miners, the power station workers, absolutely want (nuclear),” he said. “They can see that this presents Collie an opportunity to reinvent itself, to take advantage of some of its natural advantages – which is the transmission infrastructure.” After Premier Roger Cook on Monday described Mr Dutton as a “climate denier” and dismissed his nuclear policy as a “con”, Mr Wilson said he could not understand why any State Government would turn up its nose at a fully funded nuclear plant. “I think I’d be welcoming that,” he said. “(Mr Dutton) made it very clear that we do have the necessary powers to a.) acquire the Muja power site and b.) override the state’s nuclear bans.”