Australia's nuclear paradox

AU Financial Review

3 days ago

Let's start with the facts: Australia holds roughly one-third of the world's known uranium reserves. We are a top-three global exporter. Yet we've barred ourselves from using our own resources domestically, a political compromise established in the 1990s.
In doing so, we've created a paradox: we help power nuclear reactors around the world, while refusing to consider the same path at home.
Elsewhere, nuclear energy is undergoing a global reappraisal. In the United States, both major parties are backing uranium-supply expansion. Trump's advocacy has seen nuclear emerge as a key strategic pillar – part of a broader push for American energy independence and technological dominance.
With the US still heavily reliant on imported uranium, the demand for secure, domestic sources is accelerating. This makes the current moment a breakout opportunity for exploration-stage companies operating in North America.
Global Uranium and Enrichment (ASX: GUE) is one such company. We're focused on high-quality uranium projects across key US jurisdictions, including our flagship Pine Ridge Uranium Project in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming and the Tallahassee Uranium Project in Colorado.
These assets are well positioned to benefit from the groundswell of bipartisan support for new domestic supply, advanced permitting frameworks and increasing market appetite for geopolitical security in the energy transition. And with the massive power demands coming from AI data centres, the need for energy is rapidly increasing.
Uranium spot prices have more than doubled over the past four years, reaching multi-year highs in 2024. We expect further upside, driven by renewed utility contracting and strategic stockpiling by governments.
While the momentum is global, Australia's absence from the discussion is glaring.
The cost isn't just economic. It's technological, environmental and strategic. The opportunity cost of inaction includes lost GDP, missed infrastructure investment, and the offshoring of skills and intellectual property that Australia helped develop.
We risk watching a generation of engineers, scientists and investors build the future overseas, because they aren't permitted to build it here.
Nuclear may not solve the net zero challenge alone, but it deserves honest consideration alongside solar, wind, hydro and storage. China is doing this well, building out nuclear power in tandem with solar.
Globally, companies are responding with innovation. Earlier this month, global uranium-enrichment company Urenco announced a significant investment in Ubaryon (in which GUE is the largest shareholder), a private Australian company developing next-generation enrichment technology. This investment is a positive step in the commercialisation of Ubaryon's cheaper and cleaner chemical-enrichment methods.
Of course, nuclear remains politically fraught, but we should be clear-eyed. Decisions made now will shape Australia's energy, technology and investment landscape for decades.
There's still time to catch up, but the window is closing and it's time to have a serious conversation about our resistance against nuclear energy.
What is the immediate dollar cost we are reacting to in comparison to the future opportunity cost? We must move beyond outdated taboos, because if we don't act now, in 10 years we'll be explaining why we chose to sit on the sidelines.