Getting worldly about nuclear push

It is now clear that development of small-scale and micro reactors is a big new front in the US strategic competition with China. In simple terms, China has built and deployed several small modular reactors and is offering them for sale around the world. In the US, microreactors are in varying stages of development too as policymakers and business believe they must work hard to secure a technological and geopolitical advantage. The key is to find buyers willing to place orders to achieve the economies of scale and critical mass necessary to get costs down and make the claim that a new nuclear dawn has arrived. As US correspondent Adam Creighton reports from Washington on Thursday, US electrics giant Westinghouse is touting for buyers for its first wave of microreactors, slated for commercial rollout in 2029. Despite the early days, Westinghouse is prepared to make the audacious claim that those who do not put their orders in soon risk missing out.

Perhaps. But the company says it has received expressions of interest from companies with operations in Australia, eminently understandable given mining projects need heat and reliable power and want to wean themselves off expensive and emissions-intensive diesel fuel. The strategic race is a big reason the US government has been so keen to promote nuclear power, which also fits with the Biden administration’s ambition to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Supplying SMRs will help the US combat China’s dominance in the manufacture of wind turbines and solar panels, and tie buyers to the US ecosystem in an increasingly bifurcated world of trade and technology. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the US hopes that putting its clout behind a new technology can cement future commercial and diplomatic relationships and chip away at China’s and Russia’s ability to dominate their neighbours’ energy supply. Given the experience in Ukraine with Russian gas, European countries are willing to listen. At the UN COP28 climate conference in Dubai last month, officials from 20 countries agreed to a pact to triple global nuclear energy output across three decades. Australia was a notable non-signatory.

This continues to be a policy blind spot for the Albanese government despite growing support for nuclear power in opinion surveys and within the federal opposition. It is all academic unless parliament removes an effective ban on considering nuclear power in Australia. All parties should see the bigger picture and work to remove that ban. Westinghouse may be over-egging the urgency to place an order but prudence dictates policymakers act now in preparation to avoid being left out in the cold.