‘Could be an absolutely clean energy superpower’: Expert calls for scraping of nuclear ban - theaustralian.com.au

An energy expert has called for Australia to repeal its ban on nuclear power generation, arguing the country could become a "clean energy superpower" with access to nuclear technology. The article does not detail which expert made the statement or provide specific modelling on cost, timeline or capacity. The piece frames nuclear as a route to both emissions reduction and energy security, positioning it against the current renewable-only trajectory.

Where this fits

This sits squarely on the firm-power case. Australia is building a renewables-dominant grid that requires gas plants for firming, transmission overbuild to smooth weather variability, and deep dependence on China for panels, batteries and inverters. Nuclear, banned by law since 1998, is the lowest-lifecycle-emissions firm power source available, with no weather dependence and a decades-long operational life per plant. Repealing the ban directly addresses both the reliability and sovereignty problem the current path creates.

What it means

A nuclear-capable Australia would have access to firm, domestically-controlled generation that requires no firming gas, no Chinese battery supply chain for seasonal storage, and far less land and critical mineral throughput than a renewables-only system. The cost comparison matters: nuclear plants are capital-intensive upfront but run for 60+ years at low fuel cost; a renewable grid requires continuous replacement cycles, distributed storage deployment, and transmission expansion to compensate for geographic mismatch between wind and solar resource and demand centres.

The question is not whether nuclear is clean, it is, but whether Australia will build it before the renewable path locks in higher whole-system cost, material dependency and grid fragility.