It will be about a decade before it is clear whether small modular reactors are suitable for Australia and would take about 15 years to bring a plant online if a decision was made to build one, one of the country’s experts told the first day of a public inquiry into nuclear energy today.

But Ziggy Switkowski, who headed a 2006 review of nuclear power for the Howard government, said the technology had no chance of being introduced unless Australia had a coherent energy policy.