Opportunities and Challenges for Regulating an Australian Nuclear Dawn

The recent 2025 federal general election was set to determine Australia's nuclear future, with the leading political parties taking opposite stances on whether Australia should pursue electricity generated by nuclear fission. Understandably, the debate has to date centred largely around the question of whether Australia "should" pursue nuclear power, rather than considering how it might be regulated. If Australia indeed pursues a nuclear dawn, the legal moratorium on nuclear electricity will need to be lifted and replaced with a comprehensive regime. Considering the experience of Australian regulation of small-scale nuclear industries under particularly the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998 (Cth), and the regulation of nuclear electricity by comparable states like the United States, this article explores some of the legal pitfalls and opportunities that Australia will encounter if it needs to develop a regulatory scheme for nuclear electricity, and calls for urgent academic and governmental consideration of these issues.