Archived material from historical editions of The Generator
Upper Coopers Creek Primary School gets Hilton Hen House Our “UCC Hilton Hen House” is well underway under the leadership of “Wadzy” (Wayne Wadsworth and Lyn Bell, who has been liaising with students on the design and selection of plants. The construction phase should be completed in the next couple of weeks. Planting of our Continue Reading →
In a recent report for the Queensland Government, Brisbane-based energy expert Ian Rose cited few major problems for a nuclear plant, although the report did not include recommendations or conclusions, reported The Courier-Mail (25 November 2006 p57).
Late and thirsty: But Mr Rose did point out nuclear power’s higher water consumption and said a nuclear station would take a minimum 10 years to design and develop.
Environmental payback: Its higher capital costs, however, would be offset by its environmental benefits. "The higher capital cost (of a nuclear plant) would be offset by its zero carbon dioxide emission environmental benefits," said the report.
Plug-in points: The report said the "strong points" for connection of a nuclear power station to the Queensland grid would be Ross (Townsville), Strathmore (Collinsville), Nebo (Mackay), Broadsound and Baldercombe (Rockhampton). “Other points further south would be appropriate from a grid perspective but may be problematic from a water supply perspective," the report said.
Domestic enrichment not a given: The report went on to say there’s nothing to prevent Australia having its own uranium enrichment industry in due course, but it is not necessary because there were existing suppliers.
Subsidies will be needed: The University of Queensland’s Professor John Quiggin said there were very few places in the world where nuclear power is not subsidised by the state. “What Switkowski is hinting at are specific government subsidies for nuclear,” he says. “If you don’t pay for a carbon trading scheme or unless a carbon tax is implemented in the near future, the only way to make it happen is to direct government subsidies to nuclear."
Political considerations:He continued: “From an economic point of view it would be bad public policy and politically it would be difficult to push through. And when you look at purely civilian programs, probably only Japan has relatively favourable economics because they have very little domestic energy."
Subsidy would relegate "dirty" coal: However, if a carbon tax was implemented, just about all energy sources except dirty coal would be effectively subsidised.
Technology of the near future: wireless electricity in each room of an office building, factory and home. This is what Marin Soljacic and his colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported to the industrial physics forum held by the American Institute of Physics in San Francisco this week.
One of the most promising layouts, according to the researchers, is to have a simple loop of wire connected to the mains and stuck to the ceiling. They showed that the electric field is confined near the ceiling, leaving only the magnetic field to transfer the energy to a smaller receiving loop a few metres away. This could be placed on, say, a laptop or mobile phone.
The proposed system has an overall efficiency of 40% and Dr SoIjacic hopes to boost this by tinkering with the materials and layout. The idea would be to install a source in each room of an office building, factory or home, giving wireless power throughout.
Ziggy Switkowski’s report on Australia’s nuclear energy options, which suggested that up to 25 nuclear power stations could be built along the east coast, has sparked massive uncertainty, claimed The Courier-Mail (25 November 2006 p57).
Like, where? If the go ahead for nuclear power was eventually given, everyone wanted to know where the plants would be built.
MPs lukewarm on locations: The Courier-Mail‘s questioning of Federal MPs found only two willing to have a reactor in their electorate. Nine MPs refused to answer and four ruled it out. Six could not be contacted.
Resource-driven economy paramount: QUT’s Professor Peter Grace said Prime Minister John Howard’s agenda had more to do with Australia’s economy than helping resolve climate change: “I firmly believe we are in a mineral resource-rich country and economically they (the Government) don’t see any other way ahead except to keep pushing ahead with coal and other minerals."
Those pesky Labor states again: Griffith University’s Dr Richard Hindmarsh said the "not in my backyard" issue would be a massive hurdle for the Howard Government, not just in dealing with voters, but also the Labor-controlled states which have all said they would not allow a reactor.
Window dressing: He said the Switkowski report was just a way to make the Government look as if it had a plan to combat climate change after years of being sceptical about it.
In a controversial move considering Canberra’s aspirations, Western Australia claimed it could refuse to admit nuclear power into the power grid, reported The Australian Financial Review (23/11/2006, p.7).
Claims are toothless though: University of NSW constitutional law professor George Williams said commonwealth rights under the corporations power and the interstate commerce and trading power gave it ample scope to override state objections. “There is lots of scope for extending the commonwealth’s power,” he said.
Commonwealth can tell states what to do: “The states could not resist this, there is no uncertainty about it.” Curtin University constitutional law professor Greg Craven said last week’s landmark High Court ruling that affirmed the federal government’s use of its corporations powers to introduce its controversial Work Choices industrial relations laws paved the way for it to overrule the states on nuclear power.
WA points to transmission: Western Australia threatened to block power leaving any nuclear plant the federal government might force on the state. “The thing we have up our sleeves, [is] we own the transmission lines,” WA Environment Minister Mark McGowan said. “So even if a private reactor was set up, we own the transmission lines and they would not get access.”
Perth could source power from the sea with a wave-power machine which has produced electricity and fresh water in a year-long trial off Fremantle, reported The Canberra Times (23/11/2006, p.5).
CETO utilises wave pressure to push turbine: The technology, which was invented by local businessman Alan Burns, allows a machine called CETO to sit on the seabed and use the power and movement of the waves to force seawater ashore at high pressure through a small pipe. Once ashore, the water is used to drive a turbine generator to produce electricity.
Commercial units available by 2007: The current CETO prototype would be replaced by CETO II pre-commercialisation units, which would be installed in 2007.
18MW from 1ha: A hectare-sized wave farm of 125 CETO units may be able to produce 18 megawatts of electricity.
The Canberra Times, 23/11/2006, p. 5
Source: Erisk Net