AUSTRALIA needs to start considering small modular nuclear reactors, says John Mario Pires, a member of the Climate Realism Community.
“I’m not saying Australia should abandon solar, wind or batteries, I’m saying we should stop ruling out new nuclear technology without properly examining it,” he says in a post on the group’s social media page.
“Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and microreactors are a very different proposition from the huge conventional nuclear reactors of the past. Some designs are already operating overseas, while dozens more are being developed around the world.
Australian engineer Bobby Gallagher is developing a 1 MW microreactor designed to provide continuous power.
Gallagher is CEO of Deployable Energy, is a young company with the guiding principle that nuclear energy should be a product, not a project.
The company was founded in 2025 after some intensive study and design work, and has now developed a product branded as the Unity Nuclear Battery (UNB™).
“Think about what that means,” says Mario Pires. “A 1MW reactor can potentially produce electricity 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without needing a giant battery bank to provide power at night.
“To produce a similar annual amount of electricity from solar, we would need roughly 4MW of solar capacity and considerably more if we want genuinely reliable 24/7 power, together with substantial battery storage, and batteries don’t last forever.”
He says that over a 20 to 30 year period we need to account for:
• Solar panel degradation and replacement
• Battery replacement
• Additional batteries for extended periods of low solar generation
• Land requirements (1MW of solar requires 4-7 acres of land)
• Transmission and grid connections
• Maintenance and operating costs
“The same proper lifetime calculation needs to be done for nuclear – let the numbers decide.
“Australia has enormous uranium resources, world-class mining and engineering industries, and some of the world’s biggest energy users, yet we currently prevent nuclear electricity generation from even being properly explored,” says Mario Pires.
“That worries me. This shouldn’t be a political argument about Labor vs Coalition, nuclear vs renewables, or climate politics, it should be about what is the safest, most reliable and affordable way to provide Australians with electricity for the next 30–50 years.”
He says if SMRs prove too expensive or impractical, then that is fine, but if the technology can provide reliable, low-emission power at a competitive price, then why wouldn’t Australia investigate it?
“We should be developing Australian technology, Australian expertise and Australian jobs – not forcing young Australian engineers to take their ideas overseas.”
He says the government shouldn’t be choosing the technology first, it should be comparing the technologies first.
The Unity Nuclear Battery (UNB™) is a 1 MW micro reactor whose general features arise from a unique combination of nuclear fuel, reactor coolant and neutron moderator, that enable fast using materials that are affordable and available for use today.
That criteria requires the materials to be in commercial service from suppliers that can provide a price list or firm quote given delivery terms and conditions. Where appropriate, it also means that the materials are qualified for use in nuclear reactors and for exposure to neutron and gamma flux.
The designers determined that they would use regular fuel – uranium enriched to < 5% U-235 and in the form of uranium dioxide (UO2) in sintered pellets mass manufactured by an established vendor.
Zirconium alloy tubes separate the fuel from the coolant and moderator and retain fission products that might be released by the ceramic UO2 pellets during and after operation.
The heat transfer fluid, more frequently referred to as reactor coolant, is inert helium gas that is blown through the core at high velocity and a pressure of approximately 50 bar (~725 psi). The neutron moderator is water at atmospheric pressure and a temperature that is roughly equal to residential hot water.
The reactor vessel that is needed to contain the chosen combination of functional core materials is small enough and light enough to be transported in the back of a short-bed American pick-up truck with a crew cab.
A full nuclear heat source system with transportation level shielding will fit into a 20 foot shipping container with a mass of about 20 tons. The additional shielding and physical protection layers added on site will add another 40 tons to the nuclear heat source portion of the system.
