I just wish that all these socially concerned groups around the world, and indeed the world population would realise that the whole globe is growing at an exponential rate and that it's unsustainable.

Look at almost every problem that the globe is suffering from that could not be ameliorated by a reduction in population or at least a reduction in the growth rate. From the rape of the seas and plastic pollution to climate change and the very loss of biodiversity and much much more will get worse in the future despite efforts to contain it. Just feeding humanity is becoming a problem.

I hardly ever see any campaign to limit human breeding. We are slowly but gradually losing our standard of living by over crowding. It is becoming insidious so we don't notice. We are not looking at the big picture, only just scraping the surface.

Whatever grossly immature people 'under the age if 35 years' think, do the opposite. There is no threat to the reef. Given the seditious crap these people talk, they would not be allowed to live in Australia if they had not been born here.

The greens Everald? That would be jumping from the frying pan into the fire?

If unemployment is bad now? just wait until the greens get the balance of power and stop all manner of commercial development on ideological grounds alone!

As for Adani? Four corners exposed them as tax avoiding cheats/crooks, who will never be able to sell any of our coal in India or anywhere else!

That said this state could be made to hum and go from financial strength to strength. If we had a LEADER, with the balls to go nuclear.

Not just any nuclear, but walk away safe, molten salt thorium. And that would end the possibility of damage to the reef from adjacent mining!

I mean a 350 MW thorium reactor would burn just one ton of thorium for the entire life of the plant!

Why, the security guard out front would cost more than the fuel!

Molten salt technology eliminates the need for high pressure and high pressure containment vessels and or, an expensive building designed to contain an internal rupture of a system operating at a massive 300 atmospheres!

The molten salt reactor needs no such containment, inasmuch as it operates at normal atmospheric pressure. And safe enough due to passive safety design features to abandon for 120 days, without any problem ensuring.

Thorium is the most energy dense material on the planet! Moreover, thorium is fertile not fissile and therefore cannot be compressed to create a thermonuclear explosion.

It's time finally sanity/integrity prevailed! And we opted for energy cheap enough, clean enough and safe enough to enable our steel and aluminium smelting to get into full production! As well as allow nickel, cobalt and other energy dependant metals refining to be restarted or begun!

Truly affordable energy is half of what we need! The other half is sane tax reform, coupled to bipartisan pragmatism and integrity in politics!

Talk/tinkering at the edges, is both cheap and seriously overabundant! As well as endless political road blocks placed to prevent political success, which only ever acts to harm the electors/state!
Alan B.

The most disturbing part about this business, is corruption.
It barely rates a mention now, but Adani is a globally corrupt dodgy business.
To think the politics of Australia is so blind to it; is so uncaring of its influences into and over, the political ruling class of this country, is THE most disturbing aspect of life generally in Australia.

Of course, the added tragedy to its citizens, as pointed out in this article, is the concept that the burning issue is the barrier reef. Not so. The burning issue is the greens ability to do the barking for the Labor party, by the snow-job it is doing.
The Labor Greens alliance is corrupt. Shorten is corrupt.

It requires little research to expose the underhand dealings of Adani, with the latest corrupt arrival to the Australian shores, the Gupta brothers. Here is a website dedicated to it!

http://www.gupta-leaks.com/…

Snake: It seems you are very confused? First, we are not electing a world government with power to sterilise couples after they have had a single child?

Nor are we able to depopulate the planet without going to war! Which at best, can only exacerbate the perceived harm of overpopulation!

There's only one way to peacefully reduce population and that is by growing average incomes in those areas now impoverished.

And where this has occurred population stabilisation/reduction has followed! Along with increased trade/wealth growing opportunities!

Mindlessly banging away at the ideological drum and endlessly bemoaning natural instincts! Does no more than sow the seeds of discontent. And clearly already massively overabundant/overdone!

What is needed is a sane rational approach and cheap affordable energy coupled to equally affordable deionization dialysis desalination, which alone presents with any prospect of reversing both desertification and man made climate change!?

When people are able to feed and clothe themselves, without de-afforestation/desertification and rendering whole species extinct! We will be able to proggresively reverse most of the harm without resorting to any kind of FINAL SOLUTION!
Alan B.

Four Corners did an excellent job on showing us
the damage that the Adani mine will do and
Australia does need to look towards long-term
solutions regarding our energy problems.
Here's a link on thorium that may be of interest:

http://whatisnuclear.com/articles/thorium_myths.html

Well if Qlds voters didn't get an idea of what the greens are like in government when Labor needed their support at a federal level. Then maybe they need a little taste to see what nuts these guys are.

Four Corners made a very strong case about alleged criminal actions of the Adani family. Those allegations had already been made prior to the Four Corners program.

Four Corners suggested that the Adani coal mine would be the biggest on Earth. Yet, through the Queensland Court system we know relatively few jobs would be created.

Quote from Executive Summary of mega Report just published:

"For the warming over the last century, there is no convincing alternative explanation supported by the extent of the observational evidence.

In addition to warming, many other aspects of global climate are changing, primarily in response to human activities. Thousands of studies conducted by researchers around the world have documented changes in surface, atmospheric, and oceanic temperatures; melting glaciers; diminishing snow cover; shrinking sea ice; rising sea levels; ocean acidification; and increasing atmospheric water vapor."

From:

https://science2017.globalchange.gov/chapter/executive-summary/

The Adani mine from a science point of view places further risk of creating a runaway climate as outlined in Chapter 15.

Many of the items covered by the Report hold a very high degree of confidence meaning they are underlined by a robust evidence base.

Overpopulation is this planet`s ONLY problem.

ateday

Overpopulation is the commonsense view; but, it's not completely right.

The wealthiest 10% of population use excessive energy compared to everybody else. For example, most people do not own their own jet, or multi cabined motor sailor.

Thorium can be filtered from Barrier Reef coral for $1.98 per 2000 tons. The reef of calcium carbonate is on the money : China good supplier calcium carbonate price .
FOB Reference Price:Get Latest Price
US $1,000-1,200 / Ton | 10 Ton/Tons (Min. Order).
Barrier Reef can be bundled with coal and thorium to build concrete power stations.

Dear foxy. The Indians recently mothballed their solid fuel reactor! Because it is simply not as good as using thorium in a molten salt reactor. Alvin Weinberg the inventor and patent holder of the nuclear reactor thinks so!

Because he was one of a select few who helped build and operate the molten salt Oak Ridge reactor.

Which trialled both uranium and thorium.

Yes one can make a bomb from some of the fissile products created in a thorium reactor! But only if you're willing to cop a killer dose of gamma radiation half way through.

So what, give me what I order and I can make a fusion bomb. I have the technical knowledge!

But why would I, given such a device could conceivably start a chain reaction that would turn this small green planet into dwarf star.

I have worked in the power industry and before that as a chemical engineer/analyst, where I could be handling radioactive material almost daily.

I won't buy an argument with an alleged nuclear engineer. Because I know all I need to know or want to know about enriched uranium and oxide fuelled reactors!

And wouldn't have a bar of one or the dated technology that lead to Three mile Island and or Chernobyl!

For mine the one that uses a ton of fuel for it's entire lifetime and produces far less toxic waste! Eminently suitable as long life space batteries is the way to go?

As opposed to a traditional light water oxide rector using 2551 tons of ton for ton, massively more expensive fuel and very nearly as much waste! Waste that remains toxic for thousands of years.

We should build a few thorium reactors, given we could build at least seven for the price of one comparative oxide reactor!

Moreover, the comparative small size of a molten salt thorium reactor allows them to be mass produced in a factory!

If you want more, read me under, Who will pay for the benefits of global warming.
Cheers Alan B.

Dear Alan B.,

Thanks for that.
I don't know enough about the subject - so I appreciate
your expertise.

I guess we shall have to wait and see what our future holds -
regarding our energy options in this country.
Hopefully - it shall be left
up to the experts to guide us in the best possible direction.

India has no molten salt reactor .The Indian government recently (Feb 2017) agreed to increase the capacity of six AP-1000 reactors, to be built by USA’s Westinghouse Co in Kovvada in Andhra Pradesh, to 1208 MW each. These are uranium , baby , green glow hot rock.

" Australian and Chinese researchers have made progress in understanding the mechanical properties of a new class of materials for use in molten salt reactors (MSRs).

Although there are no commercial MSRs in operation, there is an MSR and thorium energy research and development program at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (Sinap), with which Antso has a partnership agreement. " Alan is naughty.

You're welcome Foxy, "Mate".

Nick has pointed out that India hasn't as yet built a walk away safe, molten salt, thorium reactor?

But allegedly has one on the drawing board. As does Brazil, South Africa and Near Neighbour Indonesia, along with a multitude of others.

We for our part have, I believe, a research relationship in this area with research partner Czechoslovakia?

It would be passing strange if we turned our collective back on energy with a quoted price just south of 2 cents P.K.H. (Professor Hargreaves) as the median.

And believable if there's no enormously expensive containment vessel nor also horrendously expensive special purpose hardened building!

Moreover, even more believable when one understands that thorium the most energy dense material on earth! Contains as much as 200 times energy as uranium and 2,000 times less waste!

Imagine what sort of world we could leave for those who follow, if we used this clean, safe, cheap energy as a premier source of power for new, space age, deionization dialysis desalination? That when tested recently in Texas, produced 90% potable water for quarter of the cost of traditional desal!

Making broad scale irrigation financially viable!

We could not only reverse man made climate change, but centuries of desertification! As well as all that implies, for world wide poverty reduction/refugee repatriation etc/etc!

Cheers "mate", Alan B.

Oh I thought the Great Barrier Reef was destroyed in 1975,1980,1985,1990,1995,2000,2005,2010,2015, oh that's right its only got 5 years left even though China has over 1000coal plants compared to our 30 or so. Do any under 35's think these days or do they listen to the swamp? Please Donald send a brother or cousin or someone.

"Focus Fusion reactor would produce electricity from fusion reactions released mainly in the form of a high-energy, pulsed beam of helium nuclei.. Such an electrical transformation can be highly efficient, probably around 70%.. The steam turbines and electrical generators are eliminated. A 5 MW Focus Fusion reactor may cost around $300,000 and produce electricity for 1/10th of a cent per kWh. Fuel costs will be negligible because a 5 MW plant will require only five pounds of fuel per year."

White ants vibrate terminal mandibles at 600Mhz in resonance assimilators inducing receptor bi-hydrides on cadmium exotubes. Boosted to 5000MW/ second in pulsed ambience, a $50 timber biocell exports electricity for .005 cents kWh and much less on the drawing board.

Oh god, more hysterics about not very much.

Don't know much about the mine, as I am just not interested. Queensland is a pretty big place, you could dig a hole big enough to bury little Victoria in, & barely notice it.

As for damaging the reef, what utter garbage. Hardy Reef, the one I used to run a 250 passenger boat to 5 times a week has a lagoon of 7500 acres, with the drying reef forming the lagoon about 30 nautical miles long. With a 16Ft tidal range it varies from 4 Ft dry to 12 Ft deep.

It forms a reef complex with the permanently submerged Hook & Line reefs covering a total area of 15,000 acres. You could run a ship a month onto these reefs, & they would barely notice. In fact the marine life would love it if you did, & left them there. Fish love sunken ships.

These 3 are a very small group compared to many, & the Net, Knuckle & Kennedy group a little further out are larger, & the Swains off Mackay cover in excess of 2000 square miles, again just a small part of the reef.

Anyone who claims ships can harm the reef is either a fool or a liar, or probably both if they are educated. You could stick a hundred ships on the reef today, & just one or 2 cyclones later, you would have difficulty finding any evidence it had happened.

Alan B

I agree with you to some extent about raising the living standards sometimes reduces the number of children in some Western countries, and I'm certainly not endorsing a policy such as China recently introduced or compulsory sterilisation. It's more the accepted attitude of increasing the population that increases the expansion of growth without looking at some of its its deleterious consequences.

"One for Dad, one for Mum and one for the country" Everyone still seems to celebrate large families. People still congratulate multiple births. Religions encourage large families because it also increases the spread of their faith. No one considers the cost of education, health or the poverty this often creates and indeed so many countries still provide subsidies to have children. Expansion is the name of the game from just about every government on this planet.

It is reliably estimated that it will require multiple planets the size of our own to provide the same "standard of living" we Westerners now enjoy. It just might result in the war you mention and that's not the way to fix the problem of course.

It would appear that Labor is panicking in Queensland and clearly has opted to protect its inner-city seats from the greens and ditch the regional seats that Labor probably wasn't going to win anyway. The sudden backflip on Adani will sink any future hopes that labor had for the regions.

The moment people talk about Adani, most facts are thrown out of the window.

Lie 1 - Stopping Adani will save the reef.
Reality: there are many billions of tonnes of undeveloped coal ready to be mined and burnt, most of poorer quality and higher emissions than from the Galilee Basin. Finding alternate generation such as nuclear will lower emissions and reduce demand for coal.

Lie 2 - Adani Coal is of a poor quality,
Reality: It is far far better quality than the brown coal powering Victoria, and better than most coal on the global market.

Foxy, Thanks for your link, but there are several critical facts that are missing from Nick Touran's article on Thorium:

1, While the total quantities of thorium and uranium are equal, presently only U235 is used which is only 0.5% of natural uranium and requires very expensive enrichment, whilst all the thorium can be used.
2, Thorium in its natural state has such a low level of radiation that virtually no precautions are required, whilst uranium is not nearly so safe.
3, Thorium does produce U233, which theoretically can produce nukes, but in reality is so dangerously radioactive that any weapons made of U233 would be so difficult and dangerous to handle that this is not a serious concern.
4, Thorium reactors were not taken up because whilst their main feature of being intrinsically safe is a big plus, it certainly couldn't be made small enough for nuclear ships and subs.

Read somewhere that the Great Barrier Reef covers an area one and a half times the size of Great Britain.

So one large coal mine many kilometres from the sea is going to cause the demise of the reef?

//So one large coal mine many kilometres from the sea is going to cause the demise of the reef?//

Probably not... I think the concerns about the reef are a bit of a beat up. I'm more concerned about the potential effects on the Great Artesian Basin, with subsequent knock-on effects for agriculture.

Do you reckon the crooked Mr. Adani will be forking out to compensate any farmers whose livelihood he ruins?

A shipwreck will stop coral bleaching:
Coal has a higher density than water (and thus would not float):
Quote:
Anthracite: specific gravity = 1.47
Bituminous: specific gravity = 1.32
Subbituminous: specific gravity = 1.30
Lignite: specific gravity = 1.29

'Probably not... I think the concerns about the reef are a bit of a beat up. I'm more concerned about the potential effects on the Great Artesian Basin, with subsequent knock-on effects for agriculture. '

you are probably right Toni but with the dishonest Greens opposed to every mining project in the country who would know. Meanwhile they enjoy flying around the country in air conditioned comfort (thanks to wind farms). They are chief hypocrites.

Not too sure about this, as I saw the details many years ago.

The story was the great artesian basin is filled from the highlands of New Guinea. If so the whole thing is pretty damn deep by the time it gets to Oz.

If this is still current research, it is not likely to be effected by a few hundred feet deep hole in the ground.

The bigger worry is what a very big hole might do to the much shallower underground water table. Surely the effect on this would have been studied deeply in the EIS long before any approvals were given.

Am I being a naïve to see this as a political bit of garbage, or could the approvals have been achieved with a bit of political payola in the first place? Surely with our Green brethren running off to court with all kinds of red herrings, they could not have missed any real fault in the impact statement.