Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has dismissed as a “distraction” any consideration of nuclear energy for the country and backed CSIRO analysis against claims it overstates the benefits of solar and wind by ignoring the cost of transmission.

Writing for The Australian Financial Review, Mr Bowen insisted that cost, slow development and availability, lack of generation flexibility, and waste all argue against adopting nuclear in Australia, which has “after 235 years” of searching found a global comparative advantage in the form of renewable energy.