Australia's Nuclear Debate

Of all Australia's mineral riches, perhaps the most underused is uranium. About 1/3 of the world's reserves are here. Despite the abundance, Boss Energy is one of just three companies producing uranium and all of it is exported. The country's opposition Liberal Party wants to change that, with a plan to build up to seven reactors on former coal-fired power station plants to ensure energy security. I'm very happy for the election to be a referendum on energy, on nuclear, on power prices. On lights going out, on who has a sustainable pathway for our country going forward. There's no shortage of barriers to nuclear energy in Australia. Forget community resistance. Nuclear power is currently illegal, banned by a 1999 act of parliament. Assuming the law gets changed, there's still the issue of cost effectiveness. Major generators like AGL and Origin and eager to spend on nuclear. If things go wrong, they can go very wrong, which is why modern nuclear facilities are built with safety in mind. And this can make them expensive. They can also be even more expensive if they're being built in markets that don't have experience in constructing nuclear power or nuclear supply chains, where there isn't supportive regulation, policies or politics, or where there might be legal challenges. And unfortunately, Australia faces all of those hurdles. And then there's time. Even if the other hurdles are overcome, it will be 20 years before the reactors will be supplying electricity, a much slower roll out than renewables. We know that Mister Dutton wants to slow down the roll out of renewables and he wants to introduce the most expensive form of energy that's slow to build. But today we've seen no costs, we've seen no gigawatts, we've seen no detail. This is a joke. Australia does have one operational nuclear reactor, this research facility at Lucas Heights on the outskirts of Sydney. It mainly produces cancer medication. At this stage of the nuclear debate, it seems unlikely to be joined by anymore. Paul Allen. Bloomberg, Sydney.