Releasing a 230-page report on Friday, chairman of the parliament's energy committee and Liberal MP Ted O'Brien said nuclear energy should be considered as part of Australia's future energy mix.

But the report failed to appease Labor or anti-nuclear campaigners.

The government-dominated committee called for further work on nuclear technology and the partial lifting of the current moratorium on nuclear energy.

The ban should be lifted only for "new and emerging nuclear technologies" and new nuclear facilities should be "subject to community consent" before approval, the report recommended.

"Australia should say a definite 'No' to old nuclear technologies but a conditional 'Yes' to new and emerging technologies such as small modular reactors," Mr O'Brien said.

"And most importantly, the Australian people should be at the centre of any approval process."

The inquiry, sought by Energy Minister Angus Taylor, received more than 300 submissions.

Mr O'Brien said nuclear energy would also complement the government's climate policy.

"If we're serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we can't simply ignore this zero-emissions baseload technology," he said.

Further work should be commissioned by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Productivity Commission and Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency.

A dissenting report by Labor MPs said there was no economic case for pursuing nuclear energy and safety issues had not been addressed.

Deputy chair of the committee and Labor MP Josh Wilson described the coalition-backed report as a "dangerous distraction".

"This is despite clear evidence that nuclear power is enormously expensive, slow, inflexible, and potentially dangerous to the environment and human health," Mr Wilson told AAP.

Labor cited figures showing the nuclear share of the world's gross power generation had continued its decline from a historic peak of 17.46 per cent in 1996 to 10.15 per cent in 2018, while wind, solar and other renewable energy was rapidly being rolled out.

However, the Minerals Council of Australia was onboard in pursuing nuclear further, saying the current ban means Australia - with the world's largest uranium deposits - is missing out on a potential industry which could employ tens of thousands of people.

"The relentless and baseless scare campaign waged against nuclear power for the past 40 years is fundamentally anti-scientific," the council's CEO Tania Constable said in a statement.

But the Australian Conservation Foundation said cheap, clean and safe reactors don't exist outside of the minds of "nuclear true believers".

"Flirting with nuclear is no basis for a credible national energy policy," the foundation's nuclear-free campaigner Dave Sweeney says.

"The climate crisis we are living through is too serious and too urgent to fiddle at the margins with nuclear."

Australian Associated Press