Please join our IdeaSpies Community for an online discussion about nuclear opportunities in conjunction with The RSA.

Our IdeaSpies Industrial Editor, Michael Sharpe, will offer his view in the first 15 minutes. The discussion will be moderated by Philipa Duthie, RSA Oceania Director, for the next 30 minutes. The last 15 minutes is an opportunity for you to connect with Idea Spies who are attending.

These are ideas when you search nuclear on IdeaSpies, explained simply..

Nuclear power remains banned under two Australian federal laws, but it’s an industry with a lot of industrial potential. Among 60 recommendations in a recent NSW Productivity Commission white paper was lifting a ban on nuclear electricity generation for small modular reactors (SMRs.)

These are a new variety of nuclear fission reactors, defined as generating under 300 megawatts per module. Some will tell you that SMRs are not all that new and have been operating as long as there have been nuclear-powered submarines and ice-breakers.

Nuclear is an industry sector with a lot of overlap with other technical fields — such as civil, electrical, instrumentation and control. If existing R&D in those fields was directed at specific nuclear applications, we could create new ventures. Nuclear energy is a highly-advanced industry, requiring an ecosystem of top-notch scientific, engineering and manufacturing skills to sustain it.

The new AUKUS submarines project thrusts Australia into a whole new world where innovation and technology rule. The nuclear industry and space propulsion is an area where Australia can collaborate, utilise existing capabilities and grow our skills base whilst helping to build the burgeoning space industry globally. NASA is now engaging with industry for nuclear thermal propulsion systems in space.

“By working together, across government and with industry, the United States is advancing space nuclear propulsion,” said Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.

AUKUS provides a new mechanism to benefit Australia and our close friends as part of what has been termed The Forever Partnership. We know that Australia has new opportunities to develop new industrial potential related to nuclear submarines. I also believe that AUKUS will open further opportunities for a civil nuclear industry including the space industry, medical technologies and energy.

The discussion is limited to 50 people registered with IdeaSpies. Join IdeaSpies to attend.

This event will be recorded for learning purposes and public viewing. By attending, you accept that you may appear in a video or images as an attendee.