Several groups specifically concerned with nuclear issues were established in the mid-1970s, including the Movement Against Uranium Mining and Campaign Against Nuclear Energy (CANE), cooperating with other environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth and the Australian Conservation Foundation. But by the late 1980s, the price of uranium had fallen, and the costs of nuclear power had risen, and the anti-nuclear movement seemed to have won its case. CANE disbanded itself in 1988.

As of 2010, Australia has no nuclear power stations and the current Gillard Labor government is opposed to nuclear power for Australia. Australia has three operating uranium mines at Olympic Dam (Roxby) and Beverley - both in South Australia's north - and at Ranger in the Northern Territory. As of April 2009, construction has begun on South Australia's third uranium mine—the Honeymoon Uranium Mine. Read more...

• The Stuart Shale Oil Plant (pictured) in Australia was in operation only five years?

• Atlantic LNG Company of Trinidad and Tobago operates the world's largest LNG train?

• Despite projections of producing four times as much power as it used in heating, the Riggatron fusion reactor was never built due to a lack of funding?

• In the late 1980s, as many as 50 percent of Argentina's thermal power plants had to be shut down due to lack of maintenance, causing a supply crisis?

• Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, the largest nuclear power plant in the world, was shut down after being hit by the Chūetsu offshore earthquake in July 2007?

• The world's largest surface oil shale pyrolysis reactor is Petrosix, operated by the Brazilian oil company Petrobras?

• Russia plans to build several floating nuclear power stations?

• Shale gas, a form of natural gas extracted from shale, may also refer to oil shale gas?

Born in Texas, Hubbert studied geology, mathematics, and physics at the University of Chicago. He pursued his Ph.D. while working for the Amerada Petroleum Company, then worked for the Shell Oil Company from 1943 until 1964. On leaving Shell he became a senior research geophysicist for the United States Geological Survey until retiring in 1976. Hubbert was also a professor at Stanford University and at UC Berkeley.

Hubbert is most well-known for his studies on the capacities of oil fields and natural gas reserves. He predicted that, for any given geographical area, the rate of petroleum production over time would resemble a bell curve. At the 1956 meeting of the American Petroleum Institute, Hubbert predicted that United States petroleum production would peak in the late 1960s or early 1970s. He became famous when his prediction came true in 1970.

In 1974, Hubbert projected that global oil production would peak in 1995 "if current trends continue". Various subsequent predictions have been made by others as trends have fluctuated in the intervening years. Hubbert's theory, and its implications for the world economy, remain controversial. Read more...