While Australia is home to the world's largest uranium reserves, it has never had a nuclear power plant. Now, amid growing concerns over climate change, the government is weighing whether to reverse its long-held ban.
The state of South Australia, where BHP Billiton Ltd. operates the Olympic Dam mine, is setting up a royal commission to evaluate nuclear power's impact on both the region's economy and its carbon emissions. At the same time, the federal government is set to release within months an extensive report on energy that will explore the issue further.
Those reports will follow Prime Minister Tony Abbott's comments in December that global warming has made the issue worth revisiting. It is a significant shift in a nation where grass-roots resistance to nuclear energy dates back to the 1960s. Still, any push to introduce nuclear power would face legal and political hurdles from community groups.
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