<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>329610</docID> <postdate>2024-09-24 09:12:04</postdate> <headline>Bowen calls Coalition’s nuclear plans a ‘fantasy’</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-329611" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240913171872616900-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Energy Minister Chris Bowen has labelled the coalition's nuclear plan as a fantasy. (Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Dominic Giannini</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>The coalition's plan to install nuclear power plants backed by coal during Australia's energy transition has been branded a fantasy stacked with misinformation.</strong></p> <p>Energy Minister Chris Bowen has pilloried Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's plan to build seven nuclear reactors across five states without releasing the details or cost of the proposal.</p> <p>"They are treating the Australian people, quite frankly, with quite arrogant contempt," Mr Bowen told ABC Radio on Tuesday.</p> <p>There had been "a very clear misunderstanding or misrepresentation by Peter Dutton about the respective energy mixes that are options for Australia", he said.</p> <p>Australia won't meet its net-zero emissions target by 2050 without nuclear energy, Mr Dutton argues, as he slams the cost of wind and solar energy.</p> <p>Mr Bowen said this ignored Australia's wind and solar potential stemming from its unique geography and expert estimates about nuclear cost blowouts.</p> <p>Gas would be used as a backstop as part of Labor's plan and could be fired up with two minutes' notice and not spew harmful emissions when it was not operating, he said.</p> <p>This was in contrast to the opposition's plan to extend the lifespan of Australia's coal-fired plants which were losing reliability as they aged and needed to run constantly when used as a backup, which was terrible for emissions, Mr Bowen said.</p> <p>"The biggest threat to reliability in our energy system now is coal-fired power stations," he said.</p> <p>"We haven't had a day in the last year where we haven't had an unexpected outage from a coal-fired power station. They don't get more reliable as they get older.</p> <p>"If you're leaving those coal-fired power stations in the system while you waiting for the nuclear fantasy to come on board, then you are just engineering a recipe for unreliability and blackouts in our system."</p> <p>Mr Dutton has criticised the reliability of wind and solar, saying Australia needed energy when the wind wasn't blowing and the sun wasn't shining.</p> <p>Mr Bowen says this is where batteries come in.</p> </body>