South Australian premier Jay Weatherill has revived the nuclear debate with a royal commission into whether the state should embrace the production, enrichment and storage of nuclear power.
Mr Weatherill says his long-standing opposition to nuclear energy has softened because he believes political leaders have a duty to explore all potential solutions to climate change.
What we want to do is to take mass opinion and through a process of raising awareness through the provision of information and facts - we get the working through of these issues so people can come up with a settled public judgement about these questions," the premier said.
"That's the only way that we're going to be able to grapple with such a big issue. For my own part, I have in the past been opposed to nuclear power. I now have an open mind about these issues."
The premier has made it clear it's unlikely a nuclear power plant would be built in South Australia, but there is potential for remote parts of the state to host a nuclear waste deposit.
"For my own part, I have in the past been opposed to nuclear power. I now have an open mind about these issues."
The federal government has reportedly offered its support to South Australia and promised the cooperation of agencies during the Royal Commission.
Business and mining lobby groups have applauded the inquiry, saying it could help unlock Australia's nuclear potential.
"It's been discussed for a long time, the opportunities that exist to leverage on South Australia's outstanding uranium resource base," says Dan Zavattiero, who is executive director of uranium at the Minerals Council of Australia.
"I think a royal commission is a really interesting way to go forward that lends a lot of credibility and independence to the process."
Nuclear energy has had a somewhat stop-start story in Australia.
The country currently has no nuclear facilities generating electricity - but it does have around 30 per cent of the world's known uranium deposits.
The Minerals Council says South Australia hosts 80 per cent of Australia's uranium resources, the vast majority of which are exported.
Mr Zavattiero says despite a healthy and active anti-nuclear lobby, Australians are coming around to the idea of a nuclear industry in Australia.
"I think the public is ready for that discussion because it's not just nuclear energy and it's not just uranium mining that this country has experience with," he says.
"Of course we have ANSTO (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation) and Lucas Heights (nuclear research facility). We're world leaders in nuclear medicine - we have a prominent position in the world nuclear medicine sector with our reactor at Lucas Heights. So we've got a lot of expertise in the country and we've got a great platform on which to build."
"Putting aside all the political issues, if we were able to have a nuclear waste repository that we could guarantee was safe for 100,000 years, we would have countries from all around the world not just banging on our door but begging us to take their waste."
Many environmentalists oppose the royal commission and any talk of a nuclear industry.
They say South Australia's clean energy credentials would be in tatters if the government allowed nuclear waste dumping.
Doctor Jim Green, from Friends of the Earth, says there's little prospect that South Australia will move forward with any nuclear plans.
"I suspect that South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill is attracted to the idea of a uranium enrichment industry which might generate some income and jobs in South Australia, but the reality is that there is a surplus of uranium enrichment capacity around the world and a zero prospect of an industry being developed in South Australia," says Dr Green.
"So it's just a non-starter. And nuclear power is the one and only energy source subject to a negative learning curve which means that it's getting more expensive over time."
Professor Garry Willgoose is chair of environmental engineering at the University of Newcastle and has decades of experience in uranium mining.
He says the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty prevents countries like the United States helping Australia develop its nuclear industry.
"So we'd have to do it by ourselves and it is really serious, serious money and technical know-how to do that," he says.
"Okay, it is possible. Iran has done it illegally, for example. Presumably every nuclear player has had to do it at some stage. But (it's unclear) whether you could do it and then be (economically viable). A lot of these countries that have done it on their own have done it for military reasons."
He says though, South Australia could be in for a major windfall if it is able to build a nuclear waste deposit somewhere in the state.
"Putting aside all the political issues, if we were able to have a nuclear waste repository that we could guarantee was safe for 100,000 years, we would have countries from all around the world not just banging on our door but begging us to take their waste. They don't know what to do with it."
Former South Australian governor Kevin Scarce will lead the royal commission, which he expects will complete its work within a year.
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