GOING NUCLEAR DOES COST

RE: The nuclear story (CP 20/10). There is only one small modular reactor in operation at the moment and it is in Russia. The cost of building that reactor was approximately $US740m for a 70 mW plant, which works out at $15,200 per kW here in Australia. The latest CSIRO report estimates uneconomic construction costs of at least $16,500 per kW for a small modular reactor if one was to be built here.

The cost is the biggest hurdle not the ability or the lack of knowledge.

Sam Williamson, Parramatta Park