Coalition push to unleash uranium reserves and nuclear power

Coalition pushes to end uranium mining and exploration bans, and the nuclear power moratorium, as Australia has a ‘moral obligation to provide the world its uranium’.

Opposition energy spokesman Ted O'Brien. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Opposition climate change and energy spokesman Ted O’Brien will advocate for removing uranium mining and exploration bans – in addition to lifting the nuclear power moratorium – because “Australia has a moral obligation to provide the world its uranium”.

In a World Nuclear Association speech on the sidelines of the UN COP28 climate change summit in Dubai on Saturday, Mr O’Brien will argue Australia’s world-leading uranium ­reserves must be unlocked to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Mr O’Brien will broaden the Coalition’s push for nuclear power to include the consideration of uranium mining and ­exploration across all Australian jurisdictions. Under existing rules, uranium mining is allowed in South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia, while exploration is approved in NSW. Uranium mining is banned in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania.

Mr O’Brien will tell World Nuclear Association delegates and business leaders investing in nuclear technologies that Australia has the world’s largest reserves of uranium and “we should use it”.

As the Albanese government pursues hydrogen and renewables to establish Australia as a clean energy superpower, the Queensland LNP MP will say “we already are … we just need to step up to the plate and start doing something about it”.

Mr O’Brien will issue a call to arms for the West to “take back” global energy security, which has been dominated in recent decades by China and the Middle East.

Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen alongside Samoa’s Minister for Climate Cedric Toelolesulusul Schuster at the COP28 in Dubai. Picture: Jacquelin Magnay

“We have what the world needs,” he will say. “It’s time we took back energy security for the West. And we should do so ambitiously for we have the capacity as a nation to do more than just supply uranium but also develop capabilities in other areas of the nuclear fuel cycle to become an indispensable part of a broader supply chain.

“Much has been said about the moratorium on nuclear energy in Australia, but it is also a lesser-known fact that the mining and exploration of uranium too is banned in some jurisdictions.

“Not only must Australia consider the removal of the nuclear energy ban, but I would also encourage a rethink on the moratorium on the mining and exploration of uranium.”

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen is scheduled to deliver Australia’s COP28 national statement - outlining the country’s climate change performance and commitments - in place of the Prime Minister late on Saturday night.

Mr Bowen has ruled out lifting the nuclear energy ban despite urging from the Australian Workers Union, former Labor minister Joel Fitzgibbon and French President Emmanuel Macron. Mr Bowen, who is in talks with key allies including the US and Britain about a push to phase-out fossil fuels, said on Friday he supported a “big step forward” in the final wording of the COP28 statement amid resistance from countries reliant on fossil fuels.

“I’m actively participating in those discussions,” Mr Bowen said. “With my counterparts, both with the COP president, Dr Sultan al-Jaber, and like minded countries in the umbrella group which I chair, we want to see a big step forward on the language on phasing out of fossil fuels. Whether we get there or not, coming days will tell. But it is important, it sends an important symbol.”

Pushing back against Mr O’Brien’s nuclear push, Mr Bowen said international counterparts were telling him “if I had your renewables, your renewable potential, I wouldn’t go down the nuclear road”.

Mr O’Brien on Saturday will join World Nuclear Association director-general Sama Bilbao y Leon, Westinghouse Electric Canada president Eddie Saab and Coalition for Conservation chief executive Cristina Talacko on a panel about “Australia’s nuclear energy potential”.

Seven Coalition MPs have travelled to Dubai with Mr O’Brien, including frontbenchers Bridget McKenzie, Paul Fletcher, Perin Davey and Kevin Hogan.

After 22 nations signed a pledge to triple global nuclear energy capacity by 2050, Mr O’Brien will say it is a “wake-up call to Australia that we have a role to play in helping our allies and partners shore up their own energy security as they decarbonise while keeping their power prices down and lights on”.

“Energy security is important to all nations, especially those which are geographically constrained for choice. We have what they need,” he will say.

“It’s not just an enormous commercial opportunity, but a moral obligation for us. Even if our own government remains blind to the need for zero-emissions nuclear energy for Australia, they can’t deny that the rest of the world sees things differently and they need what we have – our uranium. It’s fair to assume that tripling the capacity of nuclear energy is likely to triple the demand for the raw material used to power plants around the world.”

Labor has pushed back against the nuclear pledge, because 18 of the 22 countries that signed up already had nuclear energy industries. Mr Bowen has backed the centrepiece COP28 pledge to triple renewable energy capacity, along with 117 other countries.

Mr O’Brien will say: “A conclusion I have drawn after considerable due diligence is that Australia cannot reach net-zero without nuclear energy. It’s not a silver bullet solution, but it has to be part of our future energy mix. No nuclear, no net zero. Nuclear energy keeps power prices down because it reduces total system costs. On security, nuclear energy can provide baseload power with new and emerging nuclear reactors able to ramp-up and down to load follow renewables, accommodating their intermittency.”

Ahead of a summer when the energy grid will come under stress, Mr O’Brien will warn Australia is at a “fork in the road” and if the country chooses the wrong path “the consequences will be dire”. “At present, Australia is venturing down the wrong path … An alternate path exists.”

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: JACQUELIN MAGNAY