Businessmen vie for Australia's first nuke plant | The Daily Telegraph

Businessmen vie for Australia's first nuke plant


If anybody in Oz can get a nuke power plant happening it would have to be Huge Organ and his buddies Rob and Ron -- good luck guys!


THREE of Australia's richest men have formed a private company to set up the first nuclear power plant in the country, with South Australia and Victoria identified as potential locations.
Former SA Economic Development Board chairman Robert de Crespigny and business identities Hugh Morgan and Ron Walker are the key shareholders of a company called Australian Nuclear Energy Pty Ltd.
Mr Morgan, the former head of previous Olympic Dam uranium mine owner Western Mining, is chairman of the venture and owns 20 per cent of the company.
Mr de Crespigny and his close friend Mr Walker each hold 40 per cent stakes in the business.
The trio are examining the viability of setting up a nuclear plant at sites in South Australia or Victoria. A source close to the business partners said the company had raised its plans with the Federal Government and the Rann and Bracks governments.
The company is also talking to the US-based General Electric company which is the world's largest supplier of nuclear generation equipment.
"The company was formed to investigate the feasibility of setting up a nuclear plant in Victoria," the source said.
"Informal discussions have been held with the Federal Government and the South Australian and Victorian state governments."
The high-powered business push for a nuclear plant comes at a sensitive time for the Federal Government as it examines the recommendations of the Switkowski Report. Earlier this month the state Labor premiers warned the Howard Government it should temper its support for nuclear power generation. "The (premiers) call on the Prime Minister to provide assurances that federal powers will not be used to impose nuclear power stations or waste dumps on the states and territories," the state premiers said on February 8. South Australian Premier Mike Rannn ruled out nuclear power for South Australia while he was on watch. "A nuclear power station costing a couple of billion dollars would not be either financially or economically viable given our population size," he said. "SA is already leading the nation in renewable energy such as wind power." The Rann Government successfully fought off a Federal Government bid to place a low-level radioactive waste dump in the state's Outback in 2004. The De Crespigny proposal could put Mr Rann in a difficult political position, with the former EDB boss a key architect of bureaucratic and funding changes which are driving a mining exploration boom in the state. He was also a member of the State Government cabinet executive committee. Victorian Premier Steve Bracks vowed in December to put any proposal for a nuclear plant to a referendum. In December the Federal Government's expert review of the potential for nuclear power generation headed by former Telstra chief Ziggy Switkowski, recommended Australia could have 25 nuclear plants by 2050. Dr Switkowski said the first reactor could be operating within 10 years. A study published last month by the Australia Institute identified the South-East, the upper Spencer Gulf or Port Adelaide as potential SA sites for nuclear plants. The sites flagged as best suited were Mt Gambier or Millicent, Port Adelaide, and Port Pirie or Port Augusta. South Australia has been the epicentre of a uranium exploration boom in Australia, with more than 50 companies now searching for yellowcake in the state. Australia's first nuclear reactor, at Lucas Heights near Sydney was shut down last month after 50 years in operation. The experimental facility is being replaced by a $350 million reactor to be commissioned this year.