As a consistent supporter of nuclear energy, it is encouraging to see a new French energy bill reaffirming the country’s commitment to nuclear power as ‘energy sovereignty’.

The draft bill omits setting targets for solar power, wind power, and other renewables, in favour of expanding ‘the sustainable choice of using nuclear energy as a competitive and carbon-free’ source of electricity.

This development follows a new wave of support for nuclear energy at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai last year. France’s President Emmanuel Macron led the pledge which signed up 21 world leaders to ‘triple nuclear energy capacity from 2020 by 2050’. After signing he cheered: ‘Nuclear energy is back!’

Across the world, many countries are turning to atomic energy and rethinking their renewables targets.

In July 2023, the Swedish Parliament dumped its 100 per cent renewable target in order to build new nuclear plants claiming it needs a stable and reliable energy source.

South Africa, battling crippling energy blackouts, announced plans to add 2,500 megawatts of new nuclear generation within the next decade to resolve power shortages and secure long-term energy supply.

South Korea have reversed their phase-out of nuclear power acknowledging its efficiency in a time of rapid electrification of industry and everyday life.

Even after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, by 2015 the Japanese government had re-started the nuclear power industry with a target of reaching 20 per cent of the national electricity supply by 2030. Last year, Japan’s Cabinet approved the construction of new power plants and extended the lifespans of its existing reactors to 60 years.

While some nations are phasing out nuclear in favour of renewables, their dependency on importing electricity is growing. After Germany shut down the country’s last three nuclear power plants in April 2023, they have found themselves relying on imports from both France and Belgium’s nuclear-integrated power grids.

Nuclear energy remains a reliable, stable, and carbon-free energy source around the world, and Australia, as a world supplier of uranium, should embrace its energy opportunities too.

There are 60 nuclear power reactors currently under construction around the world and a further 110 are planned. There are 440 operating in 33 countries and an additional 30 countries considering, planning, and commencing nuclear power programs.

By contrast, Australia continues its Cold War reactionary approach, with outdated legislation blocking any true assessment of this alternative, internationally proven, carbon-free energy source.

In November 2023, the Victorian Labor government and Labor-allied crossbenchers voted down a private member’s bill seeking to repeal the state’s 1983 prohibition on nuclear energy-related activity. During debate, Labor dismissed the ‘fantasy being peddled now by the nuclear industry that somehow we have got new technology’ and described those favouring nuclear as the solution to our energy transition as ‘charlatans’.

If Labor can only resort to 40-year-old arguments and name-calling, they are clearly finding it difficult to come up with substantive reasons for their opposition.

In 2020, the Legislative Council’s Environment and Planning Committee inquiry into nuclear prohibition found that no detailed business case could be made without the moratorium being lifted.

The report found that ‘a number of submitters and witnesses have made the point that the necessary business case or firm proposals will not be attempted while a prohibition remains in place’. It concluded that ‘current estimates of the cost of nuclear energy in Australia are unreliable and accurately costing the full cost is not possible without a detailed business case being undertaken’.

Despite the evidence that banning the debate on nuclear energy stops assessment of its cost and efficacy, Labor continues to bury their heads in the sand.

We cannot forget Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, who put on a nationally embarrassing display at COP28 in Dubai.

While he attracted widespread derision for his extended Acknowledgement of Country, which now encompasses all the indigenous peoples of the world, it is perhaps fortunate less attention was paid to the detail of what he said.

Bowen claimed Australia was ‘within striking distance’ of the Albanese government’s target of a 43 per cent cut in emissions by 2030 while simultaneously tabling an ‘Annual Climate Change Statement’ in Parliament which showed Australian carbon emissions rose by 3.6 million tonnes the first six months of 2023.

Bowen’s virtue signalling knows no bounds as he jetted in on a fossil-fuelled plane to the UAE, the world’s eighth largest fossil fuel exporter, where the COP28 unanimously agreed to ‘transition away from fossil fuels’.

While leading nations provide a compelling and trailblazing example of how nuclear energy can provide safe, cheap, and carbon-free electricity, Labor’s ill-conceived excuses and dogmatic arguments now look embarrassingly outdated and parochial. The advent of Australian nuclear submarines should finally shatter them.

A non-nuclear Net Zero is fantasy, and for the good of Australia, it’s high time the state and federal Labor parties recognised that fact.

Bev McArthur is the Liberal member for Western Victoria Region and the shadow parliamentary secretary for roads and road safety

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