Nuclear power stations are expensive and take too long to build. CSIRO says by far the lowest cost way of producing electricity is with solar and wind even when factoring in storage. In contrast, the costs of building and operating nuclear in Australia remain prohibitively high.
The ban on nuclear energy originated in 1998 when the former Howard government needed to trade it off to get parliamentary support for the construction of a new, nuclear reactor for medical purposes at Lucas Heights.
Nuclear power was prohibited in Australia in 1998, horsetraded for the passage of legislation centralising radiation regulation. Public debate at the time, flamed by the anti-nuclear movement, centred on the replacement of the Lucas Heights reactor. 1 The political fix was to draw a line through the industry.
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.
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.
Australia is considered a nuclear threshold state.
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).
Scientists have recently revealed that Australia and New Zealand are best placed to survive a nuclear apocalypse and help reboot collapsed human civilisation. The study, published in the journal Risk Analysis. These countries include not just Australia and New Zealand, but also Iceland, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
Australia's uranium has been mined since 1954, and three mines are currently operating. More are planned. Australia's known uranium resources are the world's largest – almost one-third of the world total.
Uranium mined in Australia is mainly for export. Australia has no nuclear power stations, nuclear-powered vessels or nuclear weapons. Australian mining companies supply uranium to electricity companies in the USA, Japan, China, South Korea, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Belgium and Finland.
The political wrangling over nuclear power in Australia has surfaced frequently since its development was outlawed by the Howard government's 1999 Conservation Act.
Under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Australia has committed to not receive, manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons. Australia has long championed nuclear weapon-free zones and was a founding member of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Rarontonga).
In Australia there were three sites. Testing was carried out between 1952 and 1957 and was mostly done at the surface. A few hundred smaller scale tests were conducted at both Emu Field and Maralinga between 1953 and 1963.
observations support the conclusion that the large number of uranium deposits and prospects across Australia reflects the extensive emplacement of uranium-enriched felsic rocks in three main periods of igneous activity.
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 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.
Australian uranium produces plutonium – a potent bomb-making material – in nuclear reactors overseas. Australia consents to the separation and stockpiling of this plutonium through the “reprocessing” of spent nuclear fuel waste in a number of countries, including China.
These weapons spread radioactive contamination and dispossessed Aboriginal communities in and around the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands. Uranium from the Ranger mine in Northern Territory found its way into the Fukushima Reactor, a reality that plagues the Mirrar people.
Since all of the world's nuclear powers are in the northern hemisphere, stay south of the equator. Countries like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina are temperate with plenty of space to grow food, and since they're well out of the way you're unlikely to be targeted.
The study published in the journal Risk Analysis describes Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu as the island countries most capable of producing enough food for their populations after an “abrupt sunlight‐reducing catastrophe” such as a nuclear war, super volcano or asteroid strike.
But the vast majority of the human population would suffer extremely unpleasant deaths from burns, radiation and starvation, and human civilization would likely collapse entirely.
Renewable energies are rightly considered an asset in the fight against climate change, as they only emit low levels of greenhouse gases. However, nuclear energy is also a low-carbon energy, as it emits 4 times less CO2 than solar power, 2 times less than hydroelectricity, and the same amount as wind power.
Each year Australia produces about 45 cubic metres of radioactive waste arising from these uses and from the manufacture of the isotopes – about 40 m³ low-level waste (LLW) and 5 m³ intermediate-level waste (ILW). This LLW is now stored at over a hundred sites around Australia.
Interested in nuclear science? ANSTO is home to Australia's only nuclear reactor OPAL in Lucas Heights, Sydney.