Construction of SA’s $8.5bn nuclear submarine shipyard kicks off
Work on Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines shipyard in Osborne starts in a multibillion-dollar government spend.
Expansion of the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia is moving ahead, with construction starting on a massive new warehouse building that will house the build of future nuclear submarines.
The project was expected to cost about $8.5 billion and is part of a larger $368 billion AUKUS defence pact, where Australia will buy and build its own nuclear submarines using tech from the United Kingdom and the United States.
Construction of the first SSN-AUKUS submarine was expected to start by the end of the 2020s, with plans to deliver the first Australian-built nuclear submarine in the early 2040s.
The Australian Submarine Agency described the build of the nuclear submarines as “one of the most complex engineering tasks Australia has ever undertaken”.
About 1100 workers were currently delivering the Construction Yard and other projects.
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It is set to contain approximately 600,000 sqm of floor area, making it ten times larger than the existing Osborne South Development project.
More than 50 new buildings will make up the entire project, including fabrication halls, outfitting facilities, offices and worker amenities.
It will require about 126,000 tonnes of structural steel – equivalent to 17 Eiffel Towers – and will take 66 million work hours.
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The Fabrication Hall is the largest of the facilities at 420 metres in length – two-and-a-half times the length of Adelaide Oval.
But there remains a lack of clarity around where nuclear waste generated by the planned nuclear submarines was to be stored – self-described ‘transparency warrior’ Rex Patrick in the Federal Court battling for the information to be made public.
Beyond the construction yard, work has already been completed on opening a new overpass to enable access to the future construction yard.
A new Skills and Training Academy Campus is also being built, and construction was underway on the Production Demonstrations Facility, which will allow the first steps of submarine construction capabilities at Osborne.
ASA head of infrastructure, planning and coordination Josh Watkin said the work underway at Osborne demonstrated that AUKUS was progressing already.
“Through projects such as the Skills and Training Academy Campus, and the Production Demonstration Facilities, we are building the facilities, workforce and industrial capability needed for Australia’s future submarine program while creating opportunities for Australian industry and workers for decades to come,” Watkin said.
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