Coal news and updates

Industry approves up to $140B transition away from coal

A group of major mineral producers have supported replacing fossil fuels with zero-emissions alternatives.

Industry bodies representing the nation’s largest resources companies recently endorsed the federal opposition’s plan to replace coal-fired power plants with nuclear technology.

The proposal involves nationalising then converting closing power stations to accept 470 megawatt or larger capacity modular reactor at the following locations:

• Callide, 115km southwest of Gladstone
• Tarong, 200km west of the Sunshine Coast
• Liddell, 110km northwest of Newcastle
• Mount Piper, 161km northwest of Sydney
• Loy Yang, 167km east of Melbourne
• Northern, 310km north of Adelaide
• Muja, 208km south of Perth.

Existing power lines will be used instead of constructing 28,000km of new poles and wires. Cooling water capacity will also be required. Locals will be employed at the new site for the next century.

“That is a great transition for those towns and the jobs that are created there can underpin economic and jobs growth for literally eight to 10 decades, up to 100 years,” Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said according to News Limited.

“We are wanting to adopt a proven technology, we are not talking about building from scratch or having an Australian bespoke made nuclear power station. We can look to the example of those other countries and there are over 400 reactors operating around the world now.”

Each project is widely speculated to cost about $20 billion, bringing a grand total of $140B according to the Australian Conservation Foundation. This amount is touted to be a fraction of federal Labor’s estimate of between $1.2 trillion and $1.5T. Two hectares (ha) are required for each nuclear reactor compared to 4000 ha for a comparable solar farm.