Expert did not know price of uranium

Press, 18 December 1976, Page 22

Expert did not know price of uranium

Electricity Department experts on nuclear power were unable to give the present price of uranium to the Royal Commission on nuclear power. The chief engineer froti. the department’s Development Branch, Mr K. D. McCool. and three officers of the Nuclear Investigation Branch were being crossexamined by Dr Erich Geiringer. In its submissions, the N.Z.E.D. used a figure of $35 per lb for yellow-cake uranium to calculate the cost of generating nuclear power. Dr Geiringer said a United States firm. Westinghouse, was charging $4l per lb for uranium. He asked where the N.Z.E.D. figure came from. Mr A. F. Wylde replied that the long-term contract price of uranium varied from $7 to $35. He told Dr Geiringer he did not know the present price for uranium. "With the present price of uranium, which I know and you don’t, would the price to generate each kilowatt not be dearer than burning oil?” Dr Geiringer asked. Mr Wylde: No, it would not. As coal was the cheapest way to generate electricity. Dr Geiringer said, why was the N.Z.E.D. not developing coal-powered stations? Mr McCool said this was because of the possible shortage of coal in the future. Dr Geiringer: You are not worried about uranium running out,,, why worry about coal?

Mr McCool: Coal mav not be the cheapest in the long run, and it .is by no means the most reliable. Earlier. Mr McCool had said a shortage of uranium was possible.

A nuclear power station in New Zealand would have to be licensed by an “inspectorate of nuclear installations” with the ulti-

mate power of cancelling a licence or shutting down the plant, the Health Department said in its submission. The pr nt for one state dep ent to license anotlu ■ department was the Health Departments administration of the Clean Air Act. Under the act the Electricity Department is licensed to burn. coal. "The degree of risk involved in operating a nu clear power staiton can be reduced, and public acceptance of any small degree of risk can he made more likely, by the setting up of an organisation to supenise all aspects of

safety," th? department said. Such an organisation must be free from the department operating or promoting nuclear power The most suitable method of disposal of "high level" waste might be to return the chemicals to the country of origin. "It is, however, still in existence somewhere in the world, and part of th? world-wide problem of el fective long-term disposal of radioactive waste." the department said. However, the parts of the chemicals which caused major radiation would decay to negligible quantities in the. course of several centuries.