Think tank claims Dutton's nuclear plan to cost up to $5.2 trillion by 2050
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The news: New analysis by independent public interest think tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF) has found the federal Coalition's nuclear plan would cost the Australian economy at least $4.3 trillion by 2050, several times higher than the price tag modelled by Frontier Economics.
The numbers: CEF estimates costs would accumulate to $4.3 trillion to $5.2 trillion by 2050, 13 to 16 times the $331 billion price tag assumed by Frontier Economics, which was cited by the Coalition to support its nuclear plan.
The costs include an estimated:
- $3.5 trillion in cumulative undiscounted lost GDP through 2050;
- $111-332 billion in unaccounted for nuclear capital expenditure costs;
- $234 billion in higher fuel costs due to slower electrification;
- $72-720 billion in economic damage from up to 2 billion of additional tonnes of CO2 emissions; and
- $100 billion in lost export revenue from the aluminium industry alone, likely to fall under significantly reduced industrial electricity demand in the nuclear scenario.
The context: CEF director Tim Buckley said Frontier's nuclear report is "riddled with shortcomings" which "completely undermine its credibility as a serious energy transition analysis".
What they said: "This is as weak as the opposition leader recently declining to accept the settled climate science because he is 'not a scientist'," said Buckley.
"It beggars belief that this is the best the party representing itself as alternative federal government can come up with, as the nation stands on the brink of an immense generational opportunity to remake itself as a global renewables superpower and green energy export leader in a rapidly decarbonising world."
The source: CEF media release
