The Country Liberal Party (CLP) has voted to investigate whether the Northern Territory could support a nuclear enrichment industry.
A motion to set-up the inquiry was unanimously approved by the party's conference in Darwin yesterday.
Safety, cost and the availability of energy to power an enrichment plant will all be considered by the inquiry.
CLP Senator Nigel Scullion says if Australia exports uranium, it makes sense to consider enriching it as well.
"One of the principles about economic development is to ensure we have value adding for the existing industries we have now," he said.
"This is being done around the world. This is nothing new. It appears to be completely safe around the world.
"What this motion seeks to do is to seek support to ensure that we can fully investigate the safety, the efficacy and the economics of that in the current context of the Northern Territory."
Senator Scullion says the extent of government assistance needed to make such an industry viable will also be on the agenda.
"Over time, governments certainly have been keen to support very young industries and this obviously would be a new industry for Australia," he said.
"But that would be a question at the time and it can be a question obviously that a report of this scope could consider."
Preselection
This afternoon, the CLP candidates for the next federal election are set to be decided at the party conference.
The decision will end speculation about the future career prospects of the Northern Territory's current CLP Senator Scullion.
Last month, speculation abounded that Senator Scullion's preselection would be challenged by a group of CLP members.
At the time, the party's executive director John Elferink and Territory Opposition Leader Jodeen Carney both quashed speculation they were interested in going to Canberra.
Today, the matter will be settled when the party meets to determine who will contest the election on its behalf.
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