Wednesday, October 24, 2012

A new Nuclear Power alternative for Australia


Australia has been unfortunate to experience at the State and Federal level a series of incompetent Labor Governments that have stuffed up the optimal use of our energy and water resources in pursuit of a false ideology or belief system that is anti-carbon and believed to "Save the Earth" from impending destruction.

This has resulted in the construction of many enormously expensive desalination plants (2 to 5 billion dollars, now destined to be mothballed), innumerable uneconomic wind farms (28 in Sth Australia alone), the earmarking our cheapest coal fired power stations to be closed down. The people responsible for these mad decisions should be arrested and charged with treason at least, or jailed for giving us a bum steer, as in Italy with scientists not predicting an earthquake (watch out Tim Flannery).

Development of nuclear power in Australia has been prevented by the Labor Party for political reasons (anti-nuclear policy is a vote getter among the uninformed). However, it has occurred to me a possibility that seems not to have been considered. That is the employment of floating nuclear power stations. These have been developed by the Russians for providing power to the Arctic shelf region where oil and gas resources are being exploited. Such nuclear power stations could be utilized in Australia and hopefully prevent any more useless wind farms being built.

Wikipedia provides a useful description of them. The first one, called "Akademik Lomonosov" was launched in 2010, and at least 7 are planned to be built by 2015. It is a nuclear power station barge of 21,500 tonnes and has two KLT-40S Nuclear Reactors (Icebreaker type) producing 70 MW electric or 300 MW heat power, enough for a city of 200,000 people. Also it could be modified as a desalination plant producing 240,000 litres per day. Some 15 countries have expressed interest in hiring such a device.

Perhaps it could make sense to hire one/some over our hot summer period of December, January and February and park it/them in the harbor of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide etc when electricity consumption is highest? Winter time it could be towed to the northern hemisphere to Tokio, or Los Angeles etc In future, I for see a specially designed nuclear power station ship providing say 500 MW power, available to be hired worldwide... something for the Americans to consider building. All we have to do to achieve a prosperous future is get rid of PM Julia's awful Labor/Green incompetent Federal Government so we can dismantle their obstacles to progress.

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