Australia’s science and research priorities: conversation starter

6th April 2023

The Science Strategy and Priorities Taskforce
Department of Industry, Science and Resources
Australian Government

Dear Taskforce,

Re: Australia’s science and research priorities: conversation starter

Australia plans to obtain, to build, and to operate nuclear propelled submarines 1. The immense challenges brought about by this sea change in national defence strategy, and the ambition to create a 20,000 strong nuclear science and engineering capable workforce2, must be reflected in the National Science and Research Priorities, and the
National Science Statement.

We would therefore like to recommend the inclusion of Nuclear Technology as a contemporary National Science and Research Priority, for consideration by the Science Strategy and Priorities Taskforce.

Since priorities were set in 2015, Australia’s external environment has changed. Concerning our energy security, climate, supply chains, manufacturing, and national security, we must make plans for Futures that seemed unlikely in 2015. One future that would have seemed unlikely then — Australia’s adoption of nuclear propulsion technology
— has now become national policy. Should Australia achieve the stated ambition to procure three, and build a further eight nuclear propelled submarines, it will become responsible for the largest number of naval nuclear reactors, per person population, among all seven of the naval nuclear powers. An endeavour on such a scale is important to carry out carefully because it will have impacts within Australia that extend far beyond naval shipyards.

There are major gaps in Australia’s knowledge base that we will need to find ways to fill if we are to appropriately plan for and carry out plans to adopt nuclear-powered submarines. There is also a lack of scale in relevant areas where Australia does have an existing track record. Australia is underdeveloped in its nuclear science and engineering compared to the OECD, let alone other naval nuclear powers. The nuclear-related challenges may be contextualised under the broader social objective of delivering, for the Australian people, the fundamental outcome of nuclear safety, against a backdrop of increased applications of cutting-edge Nuclear Technology.

To effectively deliver nuclear safety implies a broad, deep, accessible and – where necessary – independent understanding of nuclear engineering, science, law, policy, and the societal implications of nuclear technology, residing across many sectors of society from government/defence, to industry, academia, and within communities.
This expertise must be developed and nurtured in large numbers of local Australian graduates, researchers and professionals, thorough tertiary education, postgraduate research training and industry involvement. For example, even low-level nuclear waste storage requires a 400-year-long view, and local expertise to work appropriately and respectfully in an environment where public opinion is likely to pose a challenge. Five key topics are expanded below.

1. A systems design lens for Australia’s nuclear landscape – Nuclear safety is not achieved through a
straightforward set of design requirements or engineering solutions. Nuclear safety requires planning for – and
effectively shaping -- complex interactions between public opinion, media, law, policies, regulation, educational
pathways, workforce supply and demand, geography, environmental factors, leadership, workplace cultures,
and of course, the nuclear technologies themselves. Achieving nuclear safety in Australia, in a way that is
appropriate for an Australian context, will require a cross-disciplinary and cross-sectoral effort to plan for it and
enact it appropriately. There are opportunities to approach praxis in these areas under the impetus of new, real
developments like building a nuclear navy, and strengths in Australian research communities that have rarely
been applied to nuclear issues.

2. Applied nuclear science and medical physics – As part of its approach to achieving nuclear safety, Australia
will need to enhance its ability to monitor and control the movement of nuclear materials at scale, as well as
create approaches for rapidly and appropriately responding to possible environmental releases. This work will
require research and development involving expertise from applied nuclear science, medical physics,
chemistry, artificial intelligence / computation, environmental sensing, and beyond.

1 Joint Leaders Statement On AUKUS (2023). Available at: https://www.pm.gov.au/media/joint-leaders-statement- aukus (Accessed: 23 March 2023).
2 AUKUS Submarine Workforce And Industry Strategy (2023). Available at: https://www.pm.gov.au/media/aukus- submarine-workforce-and-industry-strategy (Accessed: 3 April 2023).
3. Nuclear structural materials – The first measure of so-called nuclear ‘defence in depth’ for prevention of
accidents is materials and manufactured components of exceptional quality3. A detailed understanding of the
performance limitations and degradation mechanisms of structural materials used in reactor systems,
determines their processing routes, lifetime, safety margins and life-extension of reactors. The development of
high-performance materials for the extreme environments is underpinned by an understanding of the
mechanism by which these materials degrade, and is transferable beyond nuclear systems to space
engineering, components for a hydrogen economy and fusion reactor components.

4. Nuclear fuel – The performance and safety margins of nuclear reactors is governed chiefly by the type of fuel
and its manufacturing route. An analysis of any accident sequence starts with an understanding of fuel
behaviour in degraded conditions. The challenge is to make safety- and mission-critical decisions based on
cutting edge science, on the expected behaviour of nuclear fuels during normal operation, accident conditions,
and extended timescales when subject to long-term storage.

5. Reactor engineering and control systems – The second measure for the prevention of accidents is
preventing loss of control of a nuclear reactor core. One challenge is monitoring, surveillance, and non-
destructive evaluation to determine conditions in the partially observable, inaccessible reactor core. This is only
possible with in-depth understanding of operational regimes in the reactor core, provided by thermal hydraulics,
nuclear chemical engineering, and a range of multiscale material and engineering modelling techniques.
Another challenge is in providing control systems, integrated with human and machine decision making, to help
those involved in monitoring and maintaining the reactor to handle failures quickly and appropriately.

This proposed research priority would leverage Australian existing strengths in the research areas of materials science, chemical, electrical, mechanical, systems and aerospace engineering, data science, our advanced manufacturing industries, Australian experience in operating the OPAL research reactor, and existing pockets of excellence in nuclear science, engineering, social science, and responsible innovation research that can be scaled up with the right policies. As strengths, we also highlight Australia’s world leading research in nuclear medicine, radiation oncology and radiation effects on the human body. These contribute to provision of radiation safety, which is a part of, but by itself insufficient to provide overall nuclear safety, described here.

The opportunity in addressing these combined challenges is Australian sovereignty over the safety of our nuclear fleet, which current, bipartisan government policy places as a condition for national security, and which cannot happen without a significant change to Australia’s research base.

We hope the need for Nuclear Technology can be reflected in future national priorities and look forward to furthering our engagement with you.

Your faithfully,

Dr Edward Obbard
School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
The University of New South Wales, Sydney e.obbard@unsw.edu.au, +61 (2) 9385 7625

Dr Patrick Burr
School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
The University of New South Wales, Sydney p.burr@unsw.edu.au, +61 (2) 9385 0918

Prof Michael Preuss
Department of Materials Science & Engineering
Monash University, Clayton, Victoria michael.preuss@monash.edu, +61 (3) 9905 4907

Dr Elizabeth Williams
College of Engineering, Computing and Cybernetics
Australian National University, Canberra, ACT elizabeth.williams@anu.edu.au, +61 (2) 6125 6750

3 International Atomic Energy Agency, Fundamental Safety Principles SF-1, 2006