Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine deal opens power debate

Australia will be the only nation with nuclear subs not to have their own nuclear power industry and experts say that should change.

The historic AUKUS deal will see Australia become the only country in the world with nuclear-powered submarines to not have its own domestic nuclear industry, leading to further calls to reverse a longstanding ban on developing local uranium resources.

“Getting nuclear subs makes sense for our national defence,” said Queensland Nationals Senator Matt Canavan, who has been leading a push in parliament to develop Australia’s nuclear industry.

“But no country in the world has nuclear subs without having nuclear power,” he said.

“I thought before the subs deal we should have nuclear power — it makes even more sense now.”

The move towards getting nuclear submarines opens up debate on whether Australia should invest in nuclear power.

France, which was previously to supply Australia with diesel subs assembled in Adelaide, has its own fleet of 10 nuclear attack and nuclear ballistic missile submarines, and derives more than 70 per cent of its domestic energy needs from nuclear power.

Russia and the US both have large nuclear-powered naval fleets, and derive about 20 per cent of their respective domestic electricity from nuclear.

China, meanwhile, is continuing to develop its own nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed navy but only relies on atomic energy for five per cent of its power, thanks to its lax environmental standards and reliance on coal-fired power.

Security sources said the US’s decision to share nuclear propulsion technology with Australia despite our lack of a local nuclear industry was a “dramatic” development, reflecting the rapidly changing geopolitical situation in the region, but that it would be hard to see Canberra going back on non-proliferation treaties to also acquire nuclear weapons.

Local mining industry figures, meanwhile, said that this was the perfect time to reignite the discussion about nuclear.

“This is a perfect opportunity to update our approach to nuclear energy by removing the cold-war era ban on uranium mining in NSW. It’s a real chance to develop a new industry here in NSW that could provide local uranium to meet our domestic energy and national security needs,” NSW Mining CEO Stephen Galilee said.

Mr Galilee’s thoughts were echoed by the Minerals Council of Australia’s Tania Constable, who said of the deal, “This is an incredible opportunity for Australia’s economy — not only will we develop the skills and infrastructure to support this naval technology, but it connects us to the growing global nuclear power industry and its supply chains.

But, she added, “Outdated regulations at the federal and state levels that prohibit nuclear power — and in some cases exploration and mining of uranium — contribute to Australia being unable to properly even consider, let alone develop, this important industry.”

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, however, kiboshed any thought of leveraging a domestic nuclear industry off the deal, saying that a condition for the ALP’s support was that “there be no requirement of a domestic civil nuclear industry”.