The Coalition wants nuclear power. Could it work – or would it be an economic and logistical disaster?

The UK’s Hinkley Point C nuclear power station may take 14 years to build and cost double the early estimates. The Coalition is looking at nuclear reactors for Australia. Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

The prospect of Australia turning to nuclear power has been little more than a politically radioactive thought bubble – until the Coalition this week confirmed it wants to put reactors at the sites of soon-to-be-closed coal plants.

Energy experts have previously derided the idea, saying some of the technologies being touted did not exist, and that nuclear would be too slow, too expensive and unnecessary in a country with so much free solar and wind available to harness.