Nuclear power does not currently provide an economically competitive solution in Australia. Lead author of Gencost, Paul Graham says the main area of uncertainty with nuclear is around capital costs. There is a lack of robust real-world data around small modular reactors (SMRs) due to low global use.
Nuclear law
The Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 prohibits certain nuclear actions specified in s. 22A unless a federal approval is obtained. It specifically prohibits nuclear power generation in s. 140A (an amendment insisted upon by the Australian Democrats).
Australia would need 25 nuclear reactors to meet a third of its electricity needs by 2050, according to the Australian Government. These nuclear reactors would be built near our coasts and major population centres to be close to water and markets.
Nuclear energy is too expensive
To protect the climate, we must abate the most carbon at the least cost and in the least time. The cost of generating solar power ranges from $36 to $44 per megawatt-hour (MWh), the World Nuclear Industry Status Report said, while onshore wind power comes in at $29–$56 per MWh.
Problem 1: It Is Very Expensive
If money wasn't a concern, they say we still wouldn't have enough rockets to launch all of our spent fuel into space. Entirely new space industries would need to be established—and it's difficult to imagine this happening simply to address transporting spent nuclear fuel.
Nuclear energy produces radioactive waste
A major environmental concern related to nuclear power is the creation of radioactive wastes such as uranium mill tailings, spent (used) reactor fuel, and other radioactive wastes.
It was the worst nuclear accident in history and its reverberations have reached all the way to Australia. A power surge at the plant led to explosions, and a meltdown, which spewed massive amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. The immediate aftermath saw 31 people die and more than 300,000 more displaced.
In line with agreements negotiated by ANSTO, the waste returning to Australia will actually come from a different UK nuclear fuel reprocessing facility, Sellafield, to where the spent fuel was originally reprocessed in Dounreay.
During 1988 the Olympic Dam project, then a joint venture of Western Mining Corporation and BP Minerals, commenced operations about 560 km north of Adelaide, in an arid part of South Australia. The massive deposit is underground, some 350 metres below the surface, and is the largest known uranium orebody in the world.
Nuclear is a zero-emission clean energy source. It generates power through fission, which is the process of splitting uranium atoms to produce energy. The heat released by fission is used to create steam that spins a turbine to generate electricity without the harmful byproducts emitted by fossil fuels.
This waste is now being temporarily stored by ANSTO at Lucas Heights until a national facility is completed. Australia has accumulated almost 5,000 cubic metres of radioactive waste (around the volume of two Olympic size swimming pools). This does not include uranium mining wastes, which are disposed of at mine sites.
Nuclear energy has advantages over renewables in terms of reliability, GHG emissions, land use and waste. Nuclear is far more reliable (dispatchable) than renewables like wind and solar. Nuclear plants keep churning out energy even when the wind is not blowing, and the sun is not shining.
Does Australia Have or Want Nuclear Weapons? Australia does not possess any nuclear weapons and is not seeking to become a nuclear weapon state. Australia's core obligations as a non-nuclear-weapon state are set out in the NPT.
While uranium is not a completely unlimited resource, currently known uranium resources and reserves are sufficient to power decarbonized global energy systems in the 21st century and beyond. As the heaviest element found in nature, uranium's cosmogenic origin is in supernova explosions that occurred long ago.
In the number 1 top spot is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the USA. It boasts a total nuclear capacity of 91.5GW, which is generated by 93 reactors that are spread across 30 of the country's 50 states.
Australia's uranium reserves are the world's largest, with around one-third of global resources. Australia is also the world's third largest producer behind Kazakhstan and Canada.
The BHP Olympic Dam copper-uranium mine in SA is the only outfit still selling Australian uranium into China since closure of Rio Tinto's Ranger mine in Kakadu in January 2021.
Australia no longer faces immediate nuclear threats, but they do still rely on the US for protection in any future instances, making them one of 31 countries under the US nuclear umbrella.
It is thought that the reactor site will not become habitable again for at least 20,000 years, according to a 2016 report.
However, the releases affected large areas of Europe to some degree. Over 200 000 km2, of which 71% are in the three most affected countries (Belarus, Russia and Ukraine) were contaminated with caesium-137, which has a 30-year half-life.
When Will Chernobyl Be Safe? With that being said, the most dangerous place to be in Chernobyl is anywhere near the reactor - that area will take at least 20,000 years to disperse as far as radiation breakdown.
Thorium boasts several advantages over the conventional nuclear fuel, uranium-235. Thorium can generate more fissile material (uranium-233) than it consumes while fuelling a water-cooled or molten-salt reactor.
Opponents say that nuclear power poses numerous threats to people and the environment and point to studies in the literature that question if it will ever be a sustainable energy source. These threats include health risks, accidents and environmental damage from uranium mining, processing and transport.
Nuclear is low-carbon
Because nuclear power is reliable and can be deployed on a large scale, it can directly replace fossil fuel plant, avoiding the combustion of fossil fuels for electricity generation.