AUSTRALIA needed to invest now in training nuclear engineers, select sites for nuclear power stations and set up regulatory structures, a leading energy academic told a uranium conference in Adelaide yesterday.

Tony Owen told the Paydirt 2010 conference the "enabling investment" would allow Australia to have a serious debate on a nuclear industry. He said nuclear power was likely to be the nation's best option after 2030.

Professor Owen, who heads the Australian energy campus at University College, London, said new power generation plants over the next 20 years would be fired by gas or renewables, the latter driven by government support and eventually a price on carbon.

But after that the energy debate will switch focus to the question of nuclear versus carbon capture and storage (CCS), neither of which had gained public acceptance at this point, he said.

"There is a high expectation that by 2030 CCS will be a leading technology in reducing domestic emissions of carbon," Professor Owen said.

"But we have to keep our options open between CCS and nuclear, because public reaction to CCS might be adverse in years to come.

"CCS is likely to generate significant public concern around safety issues."

Professor Owen said this would centre on the political problems associated with piping highly toxic carbon emissions from coal-generated power stations in NSW and Queensland to secure storage sites interstate.

"There are no suitable storage sites in NSW and not many in Queensland, so you're going to be piping this stuff long distances," Professor Owen said.

"The communities along the pipeline routes won't be happy about it, not to mention the native title issues that could arise."

Professor Owen said the federal government was putting "all its eggs in one basket" by funding initiatives such as the Global Carbon Collection and Storage Institute and not making similar strategic investments in the nuclear industry.

"From 1961-86 there was a school of nuclear engineering at UNSW, but nothing since," Professor Owen said.

"Our youngest graduates from there are now in their 40s. Many of the oldest are now retired, or worse. That's not a good situation to be in when establishing a nuclear power industry."

Professor Owen noted that by 2030 the addition of CCS technologies would raise the cost of coal-generated power to near the cost of nuclear, both in terms of the capital cost of new plant and in construction timelines.

Alliance Resources chief executive Steve Johnston also told Paydirt he expected a substantial increase in forecast production levels at the Four Mile uranium ore body in South Australia.

Source: The Australian