Earlier this week, Scott Morrison suggested there was no investment case for nuclear power in Australia.

But Australian Conservatives leader Cory Bernardi begs to differ and  has confirmed he will lay out an investment case to pursue the power generation option next week.

“If Scott Morrison says he’s not afraid to use the nuclear word, I want to give him the economic case so that he can seize the mantle and stop this 20 year green moratorium on even contemplating nuclear power in this country,” Bernardi tells Luke Grant.

“I will lay out an investment case that makes nuclear a compelling opportunity. It will detail not only the energy benefits of nuclear energy but the whole range of other spin-off benefits. It could relieve drought-affected areas, it could ensure greater crop production.”

“We can also detail a way, which is a little riskier in a political sense, that it could be built with no additional capital input from the government right now.”

Bernadi says the time for an elimination of the ban is now, with the blanket prohibition precluding Australia from capitalising on its uranium resource abundance and shutting us off from the economic advantages that would flow on.

“We’re crazy,” he says.

“There’s 30% of the world’s uranium resources in this country, something like 20% in South Australia alone. We could radically change Australia’s economic future. You can do it perfectly safely and to those who want to stop carbon dioxide emissions, you can cure that problem too.”

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