Nuclear Energy Policy in Australia

One issue that I was really interested in was the nuclear energy policy in Australia. They have some of the largest reserves of Uranium in the world, but they do not utilize the resource for nuclear energy in the country. Out of curiosity, I asked my Australian friend about this debate. He said that most of the Uranium is located on the lands that belong to the indigenous Australians, the aborigines. Thus because of this a portion of the sales of this Uranium goes back to the aborigines. I also inquired if Australia used any nuclear medicine. He said that they did, but other than nuclear medicine, the citizens of the country were scared of nuclear energy. "Due to the political nature of the country, no official would be elected if they had any desire to enact policies that would utilize nuclear energy," said my Australian friend Andrew.

Out of curiosity I researched more into the Australian policies that deal with nuclear energy, and found several articles that discuss various aspects of this. The first article has to do with nuclear non-proliferation, trade and security in relation to the Australian policy on Uranium exports. http://www.dfat.gov.au/security/aus_uran_exp_policy.html

The second article that I found in relation to this has to do with the way that citizens feel about nuclear power. The main argument against nuclear energy is that Australia has many other energy sources that make the need for nuclear energy unnecessary. http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/labor-rejects-nuclear-power-in-australia-20100217-ocdu.html

Caroline Kircher