Nuclear power in Australia

Nuclear power in Australia has been a topic of debate since the 1930s. Australia has one nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights, New South Wales, which is only used to produce radionuclides for nuclear medicine, and does not produce electricity. Australia hosts 33% of the world's proven uranium deposits, and is currently the world's third largest producer of uranium after Kazakhstan and Canada.^[1]

Australia's extensive low-cost coal and natural gas reserves have historically been used as strong arguments for avoiding nuclear power.^[2] The Liberal Party has advocated for the development of nuclear power and nuclear industries in Australia since the 1950s. The Gorton government moved to establish the Jervis Bay Nuclear Power Plant in the late 1960s, but plans were abandoned after John Gorton was replaced as prime minister in 1971. An anti-nuclear movement developed in Australia in the 1970s, initially focusing on prohibiting nuclear weapons testing and limiting the development of uranium mining and export. The movement also challenged the environmental and economic costs of developing nuclear power and the possibility of fissile material being diverted into nuclear weapons production.^{[citation needed]}

A resurgence of interest in nuclear power was prompted by Prime Minister John Howard in 2007 in response to the need to move to low-carbon methods of power generation in order to reduce the effects of global warming on Australia. In 2015, South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill initiated a Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission to investigate the state's future role in the nuclear fuel cycle. As of 2018^[update] there are three active uranium mines, Ranger in Northern Territory, Olympic Dam in South Australia, and Beverley with Four Mile in South Australia. The Royal Commission determined that there was no case for the introduction of nuclear power to the electricity grid in South Australia, but it did not consider its potential interstate. In its final report of May 2016, the Royal Commission recommended that prohibitions preventing the development of nuclear power plants nationally should be repealed.

In 2017, former prime minister Tony Abbott advocated for legislation to be changed to allow the construction of nuclear power plants in Australia.^[3] The former Deputy Premier of New South Wales, John Barilaro, has also been urging for debate on the prospect of nuclear power in Australia, including the revisiting of Jervis Bay as a prospective site for a nuclear power plant.^[4][5] In November 2017, Senator Cory Bernardi presented the Nuclear Fuel Cycle (Facilitation) Bill 2017 in the Senate, with the intention of repealing existing prohibitions preventing the establishment of nuclear power in Australia.^[6]