Assessing Nuclear Power Using a Risk-based Framework

The level of interest in nuclear power has significantly increased over the last few years, both internationally and more recently, in Australia. The Prime Minister announced the establishment of a Prime Ministerial Taskforce to undertake an objective, scientific and comprehensive review into uranium mining, processing and the contribution of nuclear energy in Australia in the longer term. We apply a risk-based assessment framework to the use of nuclear power in Australia- from mining of uranium ore through to storage of radioactive waste. The evaluation criteria are technical feasibility, delivered energy services, present and possible future costs, potential scale of abatement delivered in both the short and long term, and other environmental and societal outcomes. This assessment highlights some key questions regarding the use of nuclear power to reduce Australia’s emissions: the need for an inflexible form of generation, its high yet uncertain costs, the impacts of mining uranium ore, the consequences of low probability yet catastrophic events, its delayed contribution to abatement, and the need to safely dispose of radioactive material and avoid proliferation. It is clear that maximising our opportunities for deployment of abatement technologies requires a coherent innovation strategy that supports a portfolio of promising options in order to minimise risk, despite the inevitable uncertainties pertaining to any individual technology. Thus, rather than focusing on whether one particular technology can solve Australia’s abatement task, emphasis should be on policies that will drive a mix of technologies and processes which will achieve this with least societal, economic and environmental disruption. 1