POWER April 2016 - 16

nuclear waste could be highly profitable, a
state royal commission has found.
The Labor state government of South
Australia-the state that produces twothirds
of Australia's uranium-in February
2015 tasked a royal commission with figuring
out the opportunities and risks represented
by the state's nuclear fuel cycle
activities.
While a full report is due in May, in
draft findings released this February, the
commission starkly advised stakeholders
against building a new nuclear plant under
the existing electricity market structure,
saying " it would not be commercially viable
. . . in the foreseeable future. " However,
it said, Australia's power system will
need low-carbon power sources to meet
future targets, and that might include
nuclear power. " It would be wise to plan
now to ensure that nuclear power would
be available should it be required. "
In a statement, the Australian Energy
Council-a coalition of 22 major electricity
and downstream natural gas entities-
welcomed that finding. " We currently have
an oversupplied electricity market and
tough investment conditions that make
any new generation investment virtually
unbankable, " said the council's head, Matthew
Warren. " But conditions change, " he
added. " The electricity industry is already
undergoing significant change to reduce
emissions while adopting new technologies
and maintaining an affordable and
reliable supply for consumers. "
On the other hand, building an integrated
storage and disposal facility to
store international used high-level waste
and intermediate-level waste would certainly
be commercially viable, the commission
found. The storage component, which
could be operational by the late 2020s,
could generate total revenue of more than
A$257 billion, with total costs of A$145
billion over 120 years, it said, calling for
the establishment of a " state wealth fund "
to collect and equitably share profits. The
commission made its assessment based on
a conservative baseline price for permanent
disposal of A$1.75 million per metric
ton of heavy metal for used fuel and
A$40,000 per cubic meter for intermediate-level
waste.
But the commission also noted that
while the storage and disposal of international
used fuel in a South Australian
location would be technically feasible,
investigation would be needed to identify
prospective sites. The prospect
would also need sophisticated planning
and " consent-based decision-making, "
it said.
16
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POWER | April 2016
First Turbine Deployed at
French Tidal Power Farm
The first of two 500-kW OpenHydro tidal
turbines has been successfully deployed
at French utility EDF's much-watched
Paimpol-Bréhat tidal project, which is
under construction in North Brittany,
France. When completed-as anticipated
3. Titanic. The 16-meter-diameter OpenHydro turbine was towed out to sea on January 20
and deployed by the OpenHydro barge on EDF's Paimpol-Bréhat tidal farm site in France. Courtesy:
DCNS
4. We all live in ... Developers at GE Power Conversion (GEPC) have affectionately nicknamed
this submerged converter " The Yellow Submarine. " The converter that will allow the
Paimpol-Bréhat tidal farm to send power to an onshore substation consists of a steel housing
9 meters (m) long, 5 m wide, and 4 m high, and it encloses all the electro-technical equipment
needed for electrical conversion. Courtesy: GEPC

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POWER April 2016

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