Queensland locations for nuclear energy

Edition 6, Revised 10/04/2026  BEING UPDATED

Queensland Generating Capacity and Output in 2024

Queensland is Australia’s most energy hungry state on a per capita basis. Currently 72.2% of electricity generated in that state comes from fossil fuels. Even with proposed renewable energy projects the actual CO2 emissions intensity will only reduce marginally because of the poor capacity factors of wind and solar generation and the backup required from gas plants in particular.

The generating units at coal fired plants such as Stanwell, Gladstone, Tarong and Callide are not especially large being in the range of 350MW to 450MW and are matched to a 275kV transmission system.

The performance of the Queensland generating system as a whole is shown in the following table for 2024.

Total electricity generating capacity (not including storage) in Queensland in 2024 was 25,530MW which generated 65TWh of gross electricity production[ii].

Nuclear Energy in Queensland

Queensland provides about 31% of the nuclear plant capacity requiring:

• 6 GW in 2050 coming from four large 1.4GW nuclear power plants and
• 8.4 GW by 2060 coming from six large 1.4 plants

Smaller 1.05GW plants could also be used. Based on our discussions with South Korean nuclear power plant constructors, plants need to be built in multiples at each site to achieve their greatest economies. Cooling capacity will therefore be required to suit at least 2.8GW for large plants at these locations. In Queensland, the largest cooling capacity can be obtained from seawater cooling on both coastal and estuarine sites.

Cooling at inland locations is unlikely to be available for large plants though water extraction from the Fitzroy River could possibly be increased to enable the Stanwell site to be used. Other inland sites don’t have sufficient cooling water capacity for large plants. The option to use multiples of smaller 300MW units exists though they come at a significant cost premium.

In Table 3 we have listed nine locations based primarily on ensuring sufficient cooling capacity is available. For this reason we have concentrated on coastal locations and major estuaries. Many other sites are available on Queensland’s vast coast line. We have also attempted where possible to minimise grid upgrades.

Cooling Queensland Nuclear Plants

In Queensland coal fired plants were constructed adjacent to available coal mines and other infrastructure.
New nuclear plants will where possible take advantage of the resource used for cooling at these plants.

At Townsville and Gladstone sea water cooling will be used
In an effort to reduce the environmental impact upon inland water resources, modern nuclear power plants are being designed to use a hybrid system of air and water cooling. During periods of low water availability the degree of air cooling can be increased though at a modest reduction in power output.

The tabulation shows the anticipated type of cooling at each plant

Australia’s long coastlines provide many options for locating nuclear power plants

To overcome issues surrounding temperature rises in inland locations cooling towers or mechanically driven systems known as  hybrid and recirculating systems can be used. These are now the only option used in the United States under their EPA guidelines.

While recirculating systems don’t add heat to the river or lake, they do consume water through evaporation. In Australia the availability of sizeable inland rivers are limited though a number of large reservoirs such as Wivenhoe Dam provide a substantial resource for fresh water cooling.

An excellent and detailed outline of the cooling options is available at: Cooling Power Plants | Power Plant Water Use for Cooling – World Nuclear Association