“They’re being looked at as part of our future energy needs and come the 2040s they can, no doubt, provide a potential part of the future constellation of technologies we’re going to require.

“But today, with the problem we have – to decarbonise our economy as quickly as possible – they are not a viable part of that solution.”

The opposition’s nuclear policy envisions a mix of SMRs and traditional large-scale reactors. They would be hosted at Lithgow and the Hunter Valley in NSW, Loy Yang in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, Tarong and Callide in Queensland, Collie in WA and Port Augusta in SA.

“The Coalition’s policy of renewables, of gas and of nuclear is absolutely essential to keeping the lights on, to having cheaper power and to making sure that we can reduce our emissions,” Dutton said on Monday.

Dutton has said he will release a business plan for the proposal in future but concedes it will have large upfront costs.

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“There is a big upfront capital cost but you can amortise that cost over 80 years [and] it makes it a cheaper source of energy,” he said.

According to the engineering academy, the true cost may not be known until the market matures.

This would require the technology to transition from full-scale prototypes to commercial SMRs with manufacturing facilities and robust supply chains, transparent operating costs, operational safety and proven environmental performance, and the development of a skilled domestic workforce capable of operating the new technologies.

Given these challenges, the academy found, the cost of building a prototype SMR would be “speculative” and unclear until the market reached maturity.

Power giant AGL in March ruled out participating in the Coalition’s push to build nuclear plants at the sites of retiring generators and warned the debate risked derailing critical investment in the energy transition.

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