Twelve years after India and an Australian Labor Government signed a landmark uranium export deal, the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Australia this week is set to truly unlock the opportunity for Australia.
India has set an ambitious target to have 100 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2047 and plans to add 18 more nuclear reactors to its energy mix by 2032.
As the home to the world’s largest known uranium deposits, this makes Australia perfectly placed to capitalize on the increasing global interest in uranium to fuel nuclear energy.
But, uranium mining is currently restricted in New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland.
“Nuclear energy powered by Australian uranium would be a safe, low emissions solution for a country with significant and growing energy demands like India,” Will Shackel, Founder of Nuclear for Australia said.
“The Labor Government saw the opportunity in uranium exports to India over a decade ago, now they must seize this chance to position Australia as a global clean energy power source.
“The world is having a nuclear renaissance, thanks to the clean energy transition and the need for reliable, affordable baseload power.
“We’re seeing significant investment from many of our allies – India, the UK, Canada and the United States, and Australia must seize this opportunity to become an active participant in the global nuclear value chain.”
Australia’s uranium mining industry is led by South Australia. In NSW, Legislative Council historically voted in favor of a bill to lift the prohibition on nuclear energy and uranium mining in May.
“Together with investment in the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine program, Australia must not pass up the chance this moment presents,” Mr. Shackel said.
“Australia needs to overturn its outdated nuclear bans so that we can not only fuel the global clean energy transition with Australian uranium but consider how Australia itself could deploy nuclear as part of a clean energy grid.”