Claim: Australia will have a nuclear power plant supplying at least 200MWe to the grid by 31 Dec 2020.
Background: Australia currently has two nuclear reactors for research, medical and other (non-power) purposes. HIFAR (10MW) went critical in 1958, and OPAL (20MW) is expected to reach final completion Jan 2007.
There has been renewed debate in Australia since the Prime Minister, John Howard, made public his support for nuclear power. The Resources Minister, Ian Macfarlane, has said that a nuclear power plant could be operating by 2020.
To build the OPAL reactor took 7 years. A fully operational power plant may take longer.
If there is any ambiguity, I will judge this claim by the intent of the claim.
As of May 2020, it seems clear that there is no political appetite for nuclear power in Australia in the immediate future and certainly no remaining time to implement by the end of 2020.
I have no plans to judge this claim early, but I am willing to consider requests to do so if there are holders that want to free up their investment.
