If we are to go down the nuclear power station path should we be starting to train the engineers and technicians that will be needed to run the plants.

Or are we going rely on overseas to provide the expertise - again?

I believe there is a world shortage of suitable staff and seeing it could take 20 years to train a nuclear plant manager we may have problems unless we start now.

Hi PeterA,
I agree with the point: if we are going to go down the nuclear pathway it will need to be BIG TIME and a whole new industry in Australia will be born. But 20 years to train a manager? Isn't that a bit excessive?

The other thing we need to keep in mind is national, or even international, manufacturing and safety standards. Rather than custom build each nuclear power plant the expensive way, GE are developing a modular GenIV reactor that can be manufactured on the assembly line in modular components that are then trucked to the site and clipped together there.

The emphasis is on unified standards, increasing speed, decreasing cost and getting the job done! (Woah, that sounded like an add for GE. What I'm mainly enthusiastic about is any approach that can save us from peak oil and global warming, and I'd support any reputable firm that developed a safe, fast, cheap reactor chain).

Check it out: it's on the way. We already have 300 reactor years with breeders. We can do this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-PRIS

Why 20 years to train a manager - would you want a new graduate to run a nuclear power station.

Or would you want the manager to get the experience (training) working in the industry before he takes over running a multibillion project.

The waste problem has not been solved.

We have to store (the waste) until a possible new reactor maybe able to recycle the waste.

As the technology, for new reactors, does not exist then it may not happen and we should be planning for that - not on the hope that it will be OK.

We could be looking at fifty or more years of storage.

Traing any technical staff is a problem. The local TAFE does not even
have an electrical trades course !
Any nuclear project will need a large staff of electrical and
electronics workers. Let alone the scientific staff and generation
engineering staff.
It can only be done if the government does what it always says it will
do and crank up the TAFEs and engineering courses instead of importing
temporary staff.

Peter A,
Fifty years? Really? Don't you mean 5 to 10 years, at least for the prototype? Then when commercialised, they'll be rushing these things out on the assembly line to deal with peak coal which is coming soon.

"AIKEN, S.C.--27 October 2010-- GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC, (SRNS) today announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore the potential of deploying a prototype of GEH’s Generation IV PRISM reactor as part of a proposed demonstration of small modular reactor technologies at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Site.

The MOU sets the stage for continued discussions on the potential NRC licensing and deployment of a 299-megawatt (MW) PRISM reactor at the federally owned facility. SRNS is the management and operating contractor for DOE at Savannah River Site (SRS)."

http://tinyurl.com/268bnfa