NUCLEAR waste from around the world should be brought to Australia for disposal, a global energy expert said yesterday.

There is a great opportunity for Australia to make lots of money as the use of nuclear energy increases, said Professor Paul Stevens, senior research fellow at Chatham House, the London-based Royal Institute for International Affairs.

Climate change was driving the quest to find alternative ways to power motor vehicles which created less carbon emissions.

"If we do start going down the route of electric vehicles, then nuclear is a great source of baseload electricity," Prof Stevens said.

"If you move to a world of electric cars then the base rises quite significantly, so that would be a great opportunity for nuclear to come along and do something about it.

"One of the problems of nuclear, of course, is the waste disposal. But I get frustrated over this. Surely it is not beyond the wit of humankind to come up with a solution.

"The screamingly obvious one is to stick it all in the middle of Australia, because you're geologically secure and politically stable.

"You would charge for the honour of doing this."

Prof Stevens was in Australia as a visiting professor to the University College London's Adelaide campus, which specialises in energy and resources research.

He said the world energy market was in a state of great uncertainty.

"I cannot remember a time when there was so much uncertainty from so many different sources," he said.

"On the demand side because of concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, security of supply, new technologies.