1st May, Australia
Nuclear power is back on Australia’s election agenda, with the Coalition pushing to lift the decades-long ban.
For the first time in more than two decades, nuclear power has become a key issue in Australia’s federal election, scheduled for May 3, 2025. The opposition Liberal-National Coalition, led by Peter Dutton, has launched a bold proposal to dismantle the country’s long-standing prohibition on nuclear energy and build seven reactors by 2050. This action has sparked a national discussion on the direction of Australia’s energy policy.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and the Coalition want Australia to embrace nuclear power and, if elected, plan to overturn decades-old bans to build nuclear reactors around the country.
They claim nuclear power will offer Australians a “cheaper, cleaner, and more consistent alternative” to coal power or Labor’s proposed renewables plan.
The Coalition’s nuclear policy would involve Australia spending over $300 billion of taxpayers’ funds to construct nuclear power stations at seven locations in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia.
Five large nuclear reactors would be built, as well as two small modular nuclear reactors.
These types of reactors are not currently available commercially. All of the reactors would be built at the sites of existing or former coal-fired power stations across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia.
The first reactor is projected to be operational by 2035, with remainder completed by 2050. Existing federal nuclear power bans would have to be overturned before construction could begin.
The plan is estimated to be cost over $300 billion and aims to provide a “cheaper, cleaner and more consistent alternative” to coal and renewables.
To carry out this plan, the Coalition recommends repeal of federal laws enacted in the late 1990s prohibiting nuclear power development. Prohibitions on such development were initially imposed due to safety concerns following like Chernobyl disaster.
As Australians go to the polls, the question of nuclear power has become a defining characteristic of the 2025 federal election. The choice will not only determine the course of the nation’s energy policy but also have consequences for Australia’s climate change and economic development strategy in the next several decades.
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