Following the resounding win by the Australian Labor Party in the 2025 Australian Federal election, nuclear energy is likely to be put on hold for the next few election cycles, as it’s clearly too hot an issue to be a centrepiece of an energy policy for some time.

The resistance is also too great, from politicians, academics, and the corporate world who are doing really well carving up the energy sector in Australia.

So does that mean that nuclear is dead in Australia?

Yes, it certainly dead for the next decade.

Things may change when the price of nuclear energy,  SMRs and other emerging technologies fall further, but for now it’s full speed ahead for wind, solar, batteries and an expanded transmission network.

Australia will have an opportunity to contribute to nuclear energy through maintaining and possibly expanding uranium mining. But it’s unlikely we will be able to process and enrich fuel, as requested by the US Government, due to a ban on nuclear fuel processing in Australia. Addressing the long term storage of radioactive waste is also something for another day.

Thank you all for reading and contributing to the nuclear debate. 

Bruce Wymond, C2N Australia