Nuclear Readiness​

SACOME calls upon the South Australian Government to allocate funding for upskilling of South Australian regulators to ensure jurisdictional readiness for implementation of nuclear energy.

Nuclear energy offers a zero-emissions energy source with the ability to provide reliable and dispatchable baseload power in extremely large quantities.

Removing prohibitions on nuclear generation is required to achieve this outcome.

It is SACOME’s longstanding position that all low emission technologies should be considered as part of our future energy mix to ensure rapid decarbonisation and energy reliability.

Net zero at the speed and scale set by national and state government targets cannot be achieved with renewables alone, despite South Australia's successful uptake of solar and wind.

While gas has, and will continue to have, a role in providing a measure of baseload power, nuclear represents an emissions-free alternative and would both complement the existing renewable resources and mitigate some of the pressures for new transmission infrastructure that renewables power demands.

Given our State’s unique and proven jurisdictional advantages and our bipartisan support at a state level for nuclear powered submarines, uranium production, transportation and export, along with increasing public support for nuclear energy, South Australia is recognised as a world-class uranium province. 

South Australia hosts 80% of Australia's known uranium reserves and is a major exporter of uranium oxide. Importantly, our State boasts a 35-year record of proven safe uranium handling and transportation and is home to 25% of the world’s uranium reserves.

South Australia has the only port in the nation approved for the export of uranium products, and a well-developed regulatory regime governing the uranium supply chain. In addition to our natural advantages, South Australia is host to the Australian Radioactive Waste Agency, and will potentially host Australia's nuclear submarine fleet, four of which will be dry docked at any given time in Port Adelaide. All of them will be equipped with small modular reactors.

Countries looking to introduce civil nuclear power are guided by the IAEA Milestones publication Milestones in the Development of a National Infrastructure for Nuclear Power, which requires approximately ten years of preparatory work prior to the first reactor coming online.

The IAEA Milestones Approach is an internationally accepted methodology that supports a sound process for countries considering the development of a national infrastructure for nuclear power and enabling countries to “self-assess” the readiness of their programmes to move forward. 

While most of this preparatory work can only be done or commissioned by the Commonwealth Government, there are several discrete roles that State jurisdictions can undertake. One such role is ensuring that the State-based regulatory regime governing nuclear energy is fit for purpose and in advance of generation capacity.
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SACOME calls for the South Australian Government to assess the State’s nuclear readiness and begin the work of building the regulatory framework to enable nuclear generation in our State.

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