From The Australian today. As stated in the article, at the very...

From The Australian today. As stated in the article, at the very least remove the prohibition so at least there can be a debate.

Business,unions call for nuclear power rethink amid push to cut emissions

Unions and peak business groupswant a rethink on nuclear power.

• JESS MALCOLM

Peakbusiness groups and unions are calling for the moratorium on nuclear power tobe lifted, amid a push to ensure Australia is “technology agnostic” during itstransition to cut emissions.

TheAustralian Industry Group, Business Council of Australia and Australian WorkersUnion on Thursday told a Senate inquiry set up to scrutinise Labor’s pledge toenshrine a 43 per cent emissions reduction target into law that nuclear powershould not be ruled out.

TheCoalition has reignited a debate on nuclear power, with Nationals leader DavidLittleproud advocating for small-scale modular nuclear energy to be part of thenation’s energy mix.

While theopposition has launched an internal party review to formally consider nuclearpower, the Albanese government has stood firm against calls to lift a 1998moratorium on the energy source, arguing that it is too expensive and Australiashould focus solely on investment into renewable energy.

BCA chiefexecutive Jennifer Westacott on Thursday said the government should not ruleout nuclear. “We believe we should be technology agnostic,” she said.

“Weshould work with the known technologies and the scalable technologies inrenewables, but to make sure we don’t rule things out unnecessarily and leaveopen the possibility of technological advancement.”

AiGroup’s principal national adviser Tennant Reid said nuclear energy could playa part of Australia’s energy mix, saying policymakers should be open to“technological surprise”.

“Ai Grouphas no objection to nuclear playing a part in the menu of options forAustralia's energy future,” he said.

“Thereare high hopes for the evolution of small modular reactors. We will see howthey perform in the markets where they are being commissioned.

“Itdoesn’t make a great deal of sense for it to be simply illegal to developnuclear energy. It does appear that nuclear energy will not be cost-effectiveor have a track record in the marketplace but we should be open totechnological surprise.”

The AWU saidit was supportive of removing the ban on nuclear power, and was open to theprospect of small-modular reactors if “the economics stacked up”.

The callscome as unions – including the AWU, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union andElectrical Trades Union – advocated for Labor’s climate bill to be amended amidconcern it did not provide enough detail on how it would achieve its 43 percent emissions reductions target.

The unionssaid the bill, in its current form, enshrined a target without any clearexplanation of how the economic transition would impact workers. They said atransition to a decarbonised economy would disproportionately affect itsmembers which include people in insecure work, carbon-intensive industries andlower socio-economic groups.

The ACTUalso advocated for the creation of a stand-alone piece of legislation toestablish a National Energy Transition Authority to ensure Australia’semissions reductions trajectory took into account the need for secure work andquality jobs.

ACTU policy director Ben Moxham said the billwas “very narrow”, and an authority was needed to regulate new industries andensure work standards were met. “There is an opportunity to embed thisprinciple into this bill, but we would need a separate piece of legislation,”he said.