Nuclear ‘Not Viable’: Committee

March 3, 2025

The Select Committee on Nuclear Energy, which met in Nanango on November 14 last year, has released its interim report after receiving more than 850 submissions from across Australia.

The majority view – disputed by Coalition MPs on the committee – found that the deployment of nuclear power generation in the Australian context was currently not a viable investment of taxpayers’ money.

Committee members visited all mainland States and the ACT during their investigation into the regulatory, safety, waste disposal, water supply, land acquisition and other issues surrounding the possible introduction of nuclear power generation in Australia.

(See our report about the Nanango visit: Nuclear Pros, Cons And Wish Lists)

The majority view in the interim report – by Labor and Independent MPs – concluded that:

• The current level of community acceptance (the so-called social licence) of nuclear power was low and might take a long time to build;

• The lack of a regulatory framework, workforce skills and a dedicated supply chain might impede Australia’s capacity to quickly build a new nuclear power sector;

• Although a range of cost estimates was provided in submissions, nuclear power would be costlier than readily available alternatives;

• Small modular reactor (SMR) technology was insufficiently advanced to allow Australia’s climate change abatement targets to be met;

• Based on overseas experience, probable approval and construction time (and cost) overruns made it unlikely that nuclear power could meet Australia’s energy transition deadlines.

Coalition members of the committee disputed the claim that nuclear power would be costlier than renewables.

In their dissenting view, they stated that:

• The variability of supply of renewables power should be complemented by nuclear constant baseload power;

• Australia has a small nuclear industry which has public recognition and acceptance and which could be readily scaled up for a nuclear power sector; and

• Nuclear power was clean, safe and relied upon around the world.

Independent member Dr Monique Ryan added that the Coalition’s proposal would provide only 15 per cent of Australia’s electricity requirements by 2050 and that under current projections, by 2030 more than 84 per cent of the main national grid will be powered by renewables; and 96 per cent by 2035.

“A balanced mix of wind, solar, batteries, pumped hydro and very small amounts of gas peaking will provide reliable, renewable electricity around the clock – including times when
electricity demand is high, and wind and sun resources are low,” Dr Ryan wrote.

* * *

The Climate Council said the “clear takeaways” from the interim report were that the Coalition’s nuclear scheme was high risk with “zero reward”.

“The climate crisis is here now,” Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said.

“Australians are already facing more unnatural disasters – record-breaking floods, deadly heatwaves and bushfires and declining rainfall. In the 15 years that we would be waiting for a single watt of nuclear energy to enter the grid, our climate pollution would soar.

“Every coal-fired power station in Australia will be closed before a single nuclear reactor could be built. Already, 40 per cent of our national grid is powered by renewables, and experts have shown that we can power our economy 24/7 with renewables backed by storage and peaking generation, and we can do it well before a single nuclear reactor is online.”

* * *

The Select Committee was established in October last year after details of a Coalition plan to build seven nuclear power generation plants around Australia – including a reactor or reactors at Tarong – were released. 

The committee’s interim report was released on February 25, with the final report due on April 30.

External links:

• Download interim report
• Audio of Select Committee Hearing in Nanango
• Select Committee On Nuclear Energy

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  Nanango