One Coalition MP has dispelled some misunderstandings about nuclear reactors out of concern for a scare campaign against nuclear energy but they should also be aware that even coal facilities have the potential to be deadly the leader of the opposition Peter Dutton is thinking of converting five closed Coal Fired power plants into nuclear reactors.
And using the current power lines to transmit electricity more cheaply these include the huge Coal Fired power facilities aing scheduled to close in 2025 and Liddell scheduled to close in 2023 both located in the nsw hunter Valley another option is the l yangi plant near trogon which is scheduled to close in the early 2030s or the yor.
Power station in Victoria's latro Valley which is scheduled to close in 2028 in central Queensland the cidb power station is scheduled to shut down in 2028 labor and the greens are against against nuclear energy so the Coalition is preparing for them to launch a panic campaign while detractors attempt to.
Write the concept off while all political parties are committed to reaching Net Zero by 2050 liberals and Nationals are dubious about depending solely on renewable energy to do it now Daily Mail Australia has dispelled a few fallacies surrounding nuclear energy including labors claim that renewable energy can provide all of Australia's.
Energy needs and worries about waste and radiation in addition to the Technology's high costs David Gillespie the backbencher for the Nationals and chairman of parliamentary friends of nuclear Industries is getting ready for a political fear campaign he told Daily Mail Australia there's a lot of misinformation that's been baked into.
Australian Consciousness and most of it is hogwash according to him the fuel load of a conventional reactor has less than 4% enriched uranium according to Dr Gillespie the typical nuclear reactor that is producing steam to produce electricity only has 3 and2 to 4% enriched.
Uranium never ever will 3 and 1 half to 4% become bomb grade if a nuclear reactor has more than 20% enriched uranium it is deemed highly enriched comparatively an atomic or nuclear bomb contains 85 to 95% more enrich uranium unlike the 1945 B of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that concluded World War II some of the greatest.
Nuclear reactor disasters and live memory occurred in Japan in 2011 and the Ukraine in 1986 to produce an atomic bomb you need more than 95% enriched uranium and plutonium Dr Gillespie stated the atomic explosions at Fukushima and Chernobyl were not the same Dr Gillespie contended that rather than a design flaw the.
Tsunami that shut off the diesel pumps during the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 in Japan was caused by the reactor's position the Meltdown occurred because the diesel pumps that circulate cooling water around the reactor to keep it at about 300 to 400° stopped because of the tsunami he explained as a result Fukushima formed a lot of hydrogen.
Gas not only did the tsunami destroy the electricity powering the pumps but it also destroyed the diesel engine and the actual diesel tank according to the labor party carbon emissions will be cut by 43% by 20130 and by 2050 renewable energy sources would provide all of Australia's energy needs according to Treasurer Jim chmer and others we want.
To play a part in that Dr Chalmer said to Sky News on Tuesday the future will be powered by cleaner cheaper more reliable and increasingly renewable sources of energy the entire world is currently shifting toward renewable energy sources for Australia this is a hugely significant opportunity Dick Smith an entrepreneur.
Has cautioned against relying only on renewable energy sources to meet Australia's energy demands as coal and natural gas are phased out citing the possibility of yearl long wind droughts he told Daily Mail Australia a whole country cannot run on wind and solar it has never been accomplished not even a city has been able to function entirely.
On solar and wi power due to their extreme unpredictability and exorbitant storage costs you don't need storage for a few hours you can need it for days or weeks and that would be extremely expensive no one would be able to afford the power Mr Smith emphasized that Adelaide still needed Victoria's co-fired power in.
Order to be independent of South Australia's massive battery storage complex at hornsdale to be competitive the battery's cost would have to drop dramatically and there's no indication that's happening he stated according to figures from the Department of climate change energy the environment and water.
Even with solar subsidies renewable energy only accounted for 32% of Australia's total electricity generation in other words solar accounted for 14% of Australia's electricity generation while wind and hydro accounted for 11% and 6% respectively as part of its Net Zero by 2050 Target labor intends for renewable.
Energy to account for 82% of the national electricity Market by 2030 according to Dr Gillespie the explosion of the colid SE power plant in central Queensland in 2021 demonstrated that coold fired power wasn't completely safe either he stated coal plants blow up too Collide in Queen's land had an accident.
Where the hydrogen which cools the generators and coal plants exploded 2 years ago a whole coal plant was taken out by it cidy caught fire and exploded in May 2021 knocking off power to 477,000 Consumers this was followed by a tri ciby station nearby in February CS energy published a.
Video showing how an electrical breakdown at unit C4 just after 2 PM resulted in turbine blades catching on the casing and the shaft rupturing into nine pieces a 2-ton projectile was fired 5 M over the ground like a spinning top as pieces of metal were propelled 20 M into the air piercing the turbine Hall roof this caused sections of the shaft.
To be released from the generator unit the generator owned by the Queen's land government CS energy Co Darren bizine stated that the company has taken lessons from the disaster it has taken time to sort through and comprehend the contributing elements to the accident he said adding that it was one of the most important and.
Complicated process safety incidents in Australia the coed unit C4 incident was the result of a complex series of events that could not have been anticipated with some of the contributing factors being traced back to the original design of the power station nuclear reactors use uranium instead of coal to produce electricity both methods rely on.
Spinning turbines the incident occurred when key electrical equipment and system backups failed simultaneously Dr gespi explained you use the element of the enriched uranium which glows red hot and boils the water instead of boiling water by burning coal the mystery surrounding a nuclear plant.
Isn't all that mysterious it's similar to the element of a kettle but instead of boiling to a very high temperature and pressure the steam generated by the high pressure turns a turb turbine which turns large magnets over copper wires releasing electrons at the other end in a joint study published in 2020 the International Energy agency and the oecd.
Nuclear energy agency claimed that nuclear energy was the least expensive source of low carbon electricity nuclear long-term operation lto by LifeTime extension produces electricity that is highly competitive and continues to be the least expensive option for low carbon generation when compared to building new power plants as.
Well as for all forms of power generation overall the statement stated Ben forom of Sydney Radio 2 gigabytes used this research to disprove prime minister Anthony Alban's assertion that nuclear energy is the priciest source of energy that might be true for his syyro colleagues but the International Energy agency says nuclear power is among the.
Least expensive options he remarked labor must ful fulfill its goal to cut average electricity costs by $275 by 2025 made during the most recent election in 2022 Treasurer Jim Chalmer criticized Mr dutton's plan by stating that launching a nuclear energy business would be costly despite the fact that he has so.
Far reneged on that commitment his proposal is the divisive option it will take decades to build cost hundreds of billions of dollars and require more money Dr chmer stated however Mr Smith asserted that France has the least expensive electricity in all of Europe despite the country obtaining 70% of its energy from.
Nuclear sources he remarked it doesn't seem logical because in Europe France has the cheapest power available and France is 70% nuclear powered they have more nuclear power than anybody else and nuclear is just using uranium to boil water instead of coal and you need a far smaller amount of uranium to ship around.
So it doesn't sound logical to me that nuclear would be the most expensive the person said Rolls-Royce for example is developing small modular reactors that have a power output of 300 megaw or 300 million Watts shipment container size units would be produced in a facility and delivered to a location I don't think any of these.
Units are really operating but it's a cost-saving measure Mr Smith remarked however traditional large scale reactors have shown to be profitable in 2020 the United Arab Emirates plans to establish a new reactor at Baraka using technology from South Korea it's a massive reactor but from the ground up it was constructed in 6 years he.
Remarked that's my recommendation let's just replace our Coal Fired power plants and get the South Koreans to build what they did in the UAE it's a well-proven solution that didn't cost that much radiation is energy released in the form of rays and fast moving particles which feeds concerns that radiation poisoning from nuclear reactors could occur.
Nearby however since 1958 Australia has owned a nuclear reactor for medical purposes medical radioisotopes are produced at Sydney's Lucas Heights reactor and are utilized in x-rays chemotherapy and cancer treatment the Australian nuclear Science and Technology organization ano stores.
Them in the Suburban facility following their reprocessing in France according to Mr Smith this dispelled concerns about radiation and proved that it's perfectly safe it's reprocessed in France shipped all the way back to the densely populated Sydney suburb of Lucas Heights and stored there he explained they keep it in a shed at the.
Center of the population to demonstrate that there is absolutely no risk involved actually when it comes to those medicinal Isotopes we lead the globe the notion that as a nuclear Nation we wouldn't know what to do is completely absurd we are quite capable Australia has plenty of space to store radioactive waste dispelling the.
Misconception that we wouldn't have enough in his later years the late labor Prime Leader Bob Hawk promoted the outmoded idea that Australia could profit from serving as the world's Repository for radioactive waste Mr Smith who says Mr Hawk persuaded him to support nuclear energy in the early 199s has proposed storing waste at Olympic.
Dam in South Australia which is home to a uranium mine he remarked I've been down into the mine where we've taken the uranium out and there are these enormous dry cavernous spaces where you could put fracking in and store the uranium waste in Total Safety Dr Gillespie contended that the French were benefiting from the reprocessing of wasted Isotopes.
Transported from Lucas Heights and that there were wellestablished procedures for storing spent nuclear fuel I prefer not to refer to it as waste because it is only waste if it is wasted he remarked the items that aren't immediately usable are placed in a large storage container which is subsequently transported back and stored.
Atdo we pay them a lot of money to utilize it again the halflife of uranium is an astounding 4 point 5 billion years however Dr Gillespie contended that if radioactive atoms were buried far below the surface of Australia their lengthy halflife or the amount of time it took for them to Decay did not make them.
Dangerous Dr gillesby remarked it's got an extraordinarily long halflife just like Granite it's just sitting in a rock underground not emitting stuff around the atmosphere or the Earth who cares if it's buried 800 M below the surface
