Australia's Nuclear Debate

Australia has long-held a stance against use of anything "Nuclear". With some notable exceptions;

• The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) nuclear reactor in Sydney.
• AUKUS (submarines utilising conventional weapons with nuclear power)

With growing challenges in decarbonising our industries (and power generation), increasing uncertainty in global geo-politics, advances into the 4th Industrial Revolution and Artificial Intelligence (AI), we face a future filled with opportunities and challenges.

My experience in business and government has taught me the value of taking a proactive stance towards coming opportunities and challenges. As decision-cycles continue to compress, discussion about our electricity generation is timely.

During my career, I've worked close to a nuclear reactor (30 metres), worked extensively with Coal, Wind and Solar industries, both locally and abroad. While vast tomes of data is published, it's hard to find a tool to understand Australia's current and future capabilities, in electricity generation.

As some nations have discovered, electricity generation is of paramount importance in navigating decarbonisation, geo-politics, changes in Industry and in the future, AI.

I'll keep this article brief, sharing a tool I've been using to better understand Australia's electricity generation challenges (and opportunities); in particular, many well-meaning individuals contribute views not based upon data. I hope this will help us all better understand and debate, using data.

PS This is a complex dataset, with over 600 electricity generation facilities in existence or planned. Contributions towards gaps in the dataset are appreciated.