Australia only has one nuclear reactor, the HIFAR (High Flux Australian Reactor), which is used mainly for medical and industrial research applications. It is due to be replaced this year by the OPAL (Open Pool Australian Light-water) reactor, a 20 megawatt pool reactor using low enriched uranium fuel, and cooled by water. It is also a research reactor.

At this point in time, Light-water reactors are the most popular reactors in the world. 79% of the world's nuclear reactors are based on two US light-water designs which supply around 88% of total world nuclear capacity.

After two years' deliberation, the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) representing the USA, the UK, the EU, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, South Korea, South Africa and Switzerland, announced six reactor designs which they believe represent the future of nuclear energy. Interestingly, four of these designs produce hydrogen as well as electricity.

• Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (GFR)
• Very-High-Temperature Reactor (VHTR)
• Supercritical-Water-Cooled Reactor (SCWR)
• Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor (SFR)
• Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor (LFR)
• Molten Salt Reactor (MSR)

The most interesting development, in my opinion, are the designs that produce hydrogen. This hydrogen can be used in petroleum refinement and as a transport fuel. This will assist in reducing the need for imported oil in oil-dependent nations like Australia, which imports 60% of its supplies. The reactors can also be used to desalinate seawater, for domestic or agricultural use.

The debate over nuclear is quite robust here. Opinions range from vehemently opposed to dramatically supportive. NIMBY (not in my back yard) is just as important a factor as in the US :) My opinion is that we will probably need the energy before the end of the century, and that we should progress to a hydrogen transport system if the rest of the world does.

There are other ways to generate hydrogen and electricity, of course, including geothermal energy. Australia has enormous potential for geothermal, and although no-one has yet built a system like this in Australia, the company Geodynamics has secured geothermal exploration Licences in the Cooper Basin (South Australia) and in the Hunter Valley (New South Wales).

Either nuclear or geothermal could be used to produce electricity and hydrogen. Nuclear is ultimately reliant upon the finite resource of uranium, yet in India nuclear developers have had good success using thorium instead of uranium in reactors. There is much more thorium under the ground than uranium, so this could help extend the lifetime of the nuclear industry.

Australia has 28% or the world's uranium reserves, more than any other country. Nuclear offers some solutions we need right now, such as lower carbon emissions than coal or gas-fired plants, but suffers from the problems of the high cost of construction and decomissioning and the safe storage of waste material. As the technology migrates to Generation IV reactors, with improved efficiencies, safety and reliability, it is the ideal time for Australia to debate the issue.

It may take a few years for Australia to decide which way to go, or whether to even pursue a number of differing directions at once, but the debate is occuring now. With oil prices escalating, and fears that the world will soon reach a peak in oil production, it's certainly not too soon to think ahead.

Energy will be critical to Australia's future; our farming, our water supply and our transport. Nuclear power may well have a role to play...