Originally Posted by
WE Branch Fanatic
I was slightly surprised to recently learn that Australia has no nuclear industry, apart from Uranuim mines. The only reactor is a small one used for research and making radionuclides for scientific and medical purposes.
Worth reading easily researchable information of Australia's ambitions for nuclear weapons in the sixties and how we fit in with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty politics and processes of the time.
The refuelling of reactors is one reason why there was no option of a French nuclear submarine. The loss of capability sovereignty in the future, to both the politics of the day and cost, is completely at the whim of the French. Versus hopefully lesser risks with traditional allies such as the UK and US.