The Federal Government is glowing over uranium - looking toward a radioactive future to boost Australian jobs and the economy, despite a global drop in nuclear power production.

The World Nuclear Industry Status Report says usage of the much-misunderstood commodity has dropped from 17 per cent of the world’s energy in 1993 to 10 per cent today. The downturn has been attributed to concerns after the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in March 2011.

But now an international study has been launched to assess the current state of nuclear power, resources and technology. The team conducting the survey has arrived in Australia to examine regulations here. The paper aims to generate a guide to governing the extraction of yellow cake and its use, as well provide best practice advice to industry new-comers.

The Australian government may be hoping those new-comers are numerous, Resources Minister Gary Gray says restarting reactors in Japan, further developments and China and an overall better global attitude will see Australian uranium mining take off.

It has been a rocky road for yellow-cake in Australia, an early boom was truncated in 1984 when the Federal Government implemented the 'three mines uranium policy', which saw production limited to two mines in the Northern Territory, Ranger and Nabarlek, and Olympic Dam in South Australia.

Australia is currently sitting on some of the world’s highest supplies of top-grade uranium, though having no processing or power facilities means it can only be dug up and shipped out of the country.

State governments are turning around since the ‘three mines’ policy was removed in 2007. Statistics now say at least 1,000 uranium exploration licences been issued across the country in recent times, around 500 of those were for Queensland and 395 in South Australia.