David,

I'm quite happy with coal but, without it, nuclear is the only way to go. I really don't understand why people so vehemently against coal don't get that.

We have become far too dependant on coal and for one reason and one reason only. The trained monkeys we've put in charge. Had/have no other ideas or rejected the best out of hand, when it came to, dispatable base load power!

Moreover, the conservatives in politics almost to a man, albeit, just here and the USA, are/were able to reject irrefutable climate change evidence! Ours know how to waste billions and presided over the virtual destruction of our manufacturing sector/remnant cooperative capitalism!!

Forced offshore/foreign hands by massive and entirely unnecessary price gouged, gold plated energy supply.

Which instead, could be as low as $00,1,98 per KwH as the median! Quote, unquote!

Yes, there are currently no operational thorium reactors still in use for this proven and not found wanting technology! So what!?

Is that all you monkeys need to reject it out of hand?

CARBON FREE power costing as little as that would not only resuscitate our steel/aluminium smelting industry, but along with manufacturing, put it into turbocharged overdrive.

Particularly if the business model was based on cooperative capitalism! Instead our moralizing lot are preoccupied to the point of blatant money wasting incompetence, by minusa and other irrelevancies. Compounded by this or that idiotic internal power struggle.

Or just spreading enough non core promises to fool the mugs one more time to extend their term in office for another three or four years! And all that matters to these inept, visionless, clowns and keystone characters pretending to be competent managers?

And had this not been so, our manufacturing sector could developed some economies of scale, niche markets, for some of our manufactured products and still could if we were intelligently lead!

And by not ruling a safe clean energy source out, simply because the favoured coal can't compete!

It's tantamount to rejecting a V8 motor car because dobbin and the gig can't keep up or go the distance!
Alan B.

ttbn. I predicted many years ago, that Victoria would have to build at least another 1500 MW brown coal station to replace not only the Hazzelwood station, but also the aging Yallourn facility. If anyone is prepare to argue against that, please put up or shut up. The greenies will stop any attempt to build a nuclear station.

David

The world keeps getting hints that wind and solar won't replace coal eg no recent emissions cuts for Germany despite $40bn a year in renewables subsidies. Now the bleedin' obvious has come to Australia since the Latrobe Valley will be home to an array of expensive diesel gensets
http://www.latrobevalleyexpress.com.au/story/5093054/diesel-generators-coming-to-outskirts-of-morwell/
Replace Hazelwood and Loy Yang A with a nuclear reactor. The barramundi fish in the cooling ponds probably won't survive any more winters. Get SA next door to reprocess the spent fuel as they are already uranium central.

Not all the greenies are so stupid David! A few of them, former friends of the earth have now come out on the side of, walk away safe, molten salt, thorium technology. And for a number of important to them reasons.

The first being it's carbon free, the second there is very little if any waste. With such as is produced being far less toxic and eminently suitable for long life space batteries.

The third being, this technology has shown it can be tasked with burning the current stockpile of nuclear waste extracting every last erg of available, unspent and massive energy from it, until far less toxic material remains and with a half life of just 300 years, as other nations pay us annual billions for the service!

Even then some of that material can be exploited in powering up space missions/orbiting satellites etc.

Finally there's the boon of miracle medical isotopes and xenon 133, used in nuclear medicine as a gas that is breathed in to assist scans of lungs, brain and a few other important organs.

Xenon 133 is made exclusively from U33 and that's the main fissile material created in a thorium reaction.

The types Adian was spitting chips over a few days ago are the exclusive product of uranium or plutonium reactions! Someone actually knowledgeable on matters nuclear would have known that, instead as per usual, sounding off and looking like an arrogant fool, again!

Moreover, I have never ever proposed we go there as that could see us in breach of the non proliferation treaty, we are signatories to!

Xenon has a half life of 12 million years and because that is so just not very radioactive!

Uranium has a half life of 5 billion years whereas thorium has a half life of fifteen billion years and consequently is less radioactive than a banana.

It also means we won't be able to use all the extremely abundant thorium contained as very abundant nova star born material, in the planet before our sun expands and completely consumes it!
Alan B.

All our coal fired power stations have little more than 10-15 years of productive life before they'll require decommissioning?

Governments got out of the energy business because they proved to be incompetent managers, and were simply too stupid to embrace the cooperative capitalism model that could have made these projects the most efficient in the world!

But like all incompetent managers, sort relief by selling our energy industry to powerful private interests and seem incapable or completely unwilling to take a different more logical and rational course?

But like all recalcitrant ideologies, just dig the heels in and talk up the alleged if illusory benefits of privatization!

That said, the coal mining industry employs a few hundred Australians! Who would be spoilt for choice of more permanent well paid stable positions! If we were but smart enough to back walk away safe clean cheap thorium energy!

Only a few now redundant politicians prevent it, and condemn our kids and grandkids to a banana republic as they do so! Who else?

We who produce just 1.4% of the world's carbon emission won't make much difference by decarbing our economy, but use that measure to turbocharge and power up a snowballing ultra prosperous economy! And create a shining thorium powered example others will feel compelled to follow!

We will not have a market for coal for very much longer and need to find something to at least replace the income we earn from this and other fossil fuel sourced products. Only a completely resuscitated and setup on steroids, manufacturing industry can do that!

Time to stop digging holes in the ground and get back to something far more enduring and profitable which we don't have to sell to the very folk we compete with for market share. You can only dig and sell minerals just once!

Ultra cheap energy coupled to cooperative capitalism is the very vehicle that'll make that outcome more than just possible, but our assured reality!
Alan B.