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The Forum > Article Comments > Aboriginal First Nations and Australia's pro-nuclear 'environmentalists' > Comments

Aboriginal First Nations and Australia's pro-nuclear 'environmentalists' : Comments

By Jim Green, published 3/7/2018

A key factor in the Jury's rejection of the waste import plan was that Aboriginal people had spoken clearly in opposition.

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My understanding ...

Nuclear waste dump- Highly Radioactive Nuclear waste is a very dangerous material that many have failed at managing. Why would we manage it any better. If it was easy it wouldn't be a problem. I guess if Thorium was used and nuclear waste can be used as a fuel it would make sense- maybe we should suggest that to those with the waste. The billions of dollars on offer for the service is seductive- but some business opportunities are worth giving up.

Traditional nuclear power plants end up with the whole building being radioactive after 50 years. The nuclear power industry is about fifty years old so expect to see a few controversies popping up over the next twenty years as companies go bankrupt trying to manage the problem. The nuclear industry with respect doesn't appear to have a good safety record.

Thorium- Some of the features of this technology appear promising compared with traditional nuclear. Low pressure sodium chloride coolant (salt melts at 800/ boils at 1400 degrees), safety features- maybe current power stations can be retrofitted with a sodium chloride cooling cycle. Still 300 years radioactive half life for the fuel rods is still substantial.

Fission Energy- All types of energy are potentially explosive especially extremely high density ones such as fission- that is what also makes them useful. The energy of fission is based on the binding energy of the atoms of atomic nuclei of atoms larger than iron. For fission radioactivity is an additional feature. Radioactivity comes in the form of neutrons/ alpha (helium 4 nuclei- cause most damage to biological tissue- low penetration), beta (electrons- moderate penetration- have ionizing effects on matter), gamma rays (more powerful than X-rays- penetrating). Different radioactive substances have different radiation profiles and the decay path varies according to probability
Posted by Canem Malum, Friday, 6 July 2018 11:22:18 AM
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Energy - Since the industrial revolution mankind has used carbon for energy. If carbon energy is becoming uneconomic then it makes sense to try to find other sources of energy. The reason for increased demand for energy may be related to increasing world population. The challenges in finding a replacement are large- enormous supply, cheap, scalable, "safe", ideally sustainable. Fissionable substances store enormous energy but the major risk is radioactive waste products- maybe in the future there will be a sustainable "Fission Battery". Creating a Fission Battery would require a particle accelerator/ power station with low or no radioactivity production/ decay cycles- this could be impossible due to probabilistic reactions. The view is that large atomic nuclei are produced in supernovae explosions so are (similar to carbon) stored solar energy (also created in particle accelerators). Currently the only potentially viable sources of energy that seem to satisfy requirements are tidal (indirect solar/ lunar) and geothermal. Geothermal may not be sustainable in the long term as we extract heat from the Earth.
Posted by Canem Malum, Friday, 6 July 2018 12:00:19 PM
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//The nuclear industry with respect doesn't appear to have a good safety record.//

Only if you listen to clowns like Jim Green instead of looking at the actual data.

http://ourworldindata.org/what-is-the-safest-form-of-energy
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/06/10/energys-deathprint-a-price-always-paid/#40c63cae709b

Nuclear power is extremely safe. And carbon free. And capable of producing baseload power.
Posted by Toni Lavis, Friday, 6 July 2018 12:14:59 PM
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Toni,

I agree with you entirely. Just about everyone else is building Nukes to ensure cheap reliable and carbon-free electricity.
Posted by Shadow Minister, Friday, 6 July 2018 1:00:13 PM
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Slightly off-topic:

From the 2001 Census to the 2016 Census, Indigenous university graduate numbers rose 363 %, from 13,400 to nearly 49,000. Numbers in NSW, Victoria and Queensland rose nearly four times. Numbers in the NT barely doubled, from a low base, and in WA only tripled. 'Only'.

Commencement numbers keep rising around 8 % p.a. and may keep doing so for the next fifteen years. Conversions from undergraduate completions to post-graduate enrolments are around 20 %. Strangely, one never hears of these achievements from the Indigenous education 'leadership'.

Whether it likes it or not, those numbers will keep rising healthily, to perhaps 100,000 by 2026, and as much as 200,000 by 2036. Those numbers will be difficult to absorb into the Indigenous Industry, especially since such a tiny, and declining, proportion will be graduating in Indigenous-focussed university courses. This problem will be exacerbated if the Industry's multitude of organisations are ever called to account to actually get results.

Of course, the vast majority of graduates are in the metropolitan areas where they most likely were born. The Indigenous population is inexorably moving to the cities, where an increasing majority will spend their careers.

Perhaps it's time to consider if the current BAB Narrative is bankrupt, with its emphasis on a bogus self-determination, on a mythical 'community', and on a push for some vague concept called 'sovereignty'. 'Sovereignty with benefits', since it will always have to be financed from Canberra. Perhaps Indigenous people are moving rapidly towards a different Narrative, of individual effort and achievement, and in urban areas. Perhaps the next couple of decades will witness the Battle of the Narratives.

Joe
Posted by Loudmouth, Sunday, 8 July 2018 8:51:25 AM
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The whole situation isn't as simple as it looks. Obviously there is bound to be opposition regardless from which party that it derives from. They have to really hold a discussion together to thoroughly go through the factors involved and hear the opinions of one another. If serious weighing in has been done, then only will they be able to uncover the many more angles that this whole predicament reflects on.
Posted by EdwardThirlwall, Monday, 16 July 2018 5:11:12 PM
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