Fester, why would anyone make a bomb using liquid highly radioactive U233. The world already has enough uranium or plutonium bombs to blow us all to kingdom come three times over.

The reactors I would prefer are mass produced SMR's that only ever have a very small amount of radioactive material in the core at any one time. And placed where we have transformer hubs now. So those oil filled things need not be ever needed? And burn when overload kicks in?

As SMRs that never ever enough material to reach the critical mass that one needs to create a thermal nuclear device

And buried underground in tunnels that could be weaponized with movement activated claymores. That don't activate unless the intruder doesn't have the right iris/fingerprint/DNA/normal body temp., etc.

That MSRs are walk away safe and run for literal months without humans monitoring the self regulating reaction, means the security can be as tight as!

Graphene is mined as mineral that comes as the mineral in the deposit or as an associated mineral in iron ore. Just northwest of Sydney is a large, almost pure, commercial deposit.

And I don't know if it is temperate sensitive like thorium which is also a super conductor when very cold!

Gas can be made as unlimited biogas. Every Australian family produces enough organic material that in a locally invented two tank fermentation smell free, closed cycle system, will produce enough methane to power their domiciles and forever! The addition of food scraps creates a modest salable surplus. The addition of a scrubber and a ceramic fuel cell more than doubles the salable surplus as more than 50%!

So, with this included in all new builds, and added as a makeover in older builds, we could not only never ever run out of gas but put local green steel production on steroids. Ditto very broad scale solar thermal!

The trick will be to keep all of this in Australian hands as family/public/Aussie co-ops ownership To limit the opportunities for price gouging by tax avoiding, profit repatriating foreigners!
Alan B.

use some of the tidal flow to pump water
is Mise,
In theory, tidal power looks attractive & viable. In practice it is near impossible due to marine growth.
There have been quite a number of experiments all over the planet & I'm not informed sufficiently to say if any of them are actually producing power on a commercial scale.
You just need to visit a dry dock or any slipway to get the idea of the immense effort to remove marine growth from the flat surface of ship hulls. Try to imagine clearing such growth from the complexity of propeller vanes, piping, cables etc. Imagine trying to dry-dock such infrastructure & the environmental aspect of such cleaning processes. You'd not find sufficient spare power to pump large enough amounts of water to aid in the turning of turbines.
Anyone familiar with but hasn't studied such technology will tell you that today's technology hasn't reached a point as yet to make such schemes viable. Neap tides alone would pose a big problem.

Alan,

I like the concept of the thorium msr, but I suspect it might have trouble getting approval from the IAEA, so if the Chinese prototype works it will be interesting to see what happens in that regard. I do like your take on biogas, and I suspect that it will gain more prominence in coming years.

Is Mise,

Nuclear power certainly needs good maintenance as the French are finding out. I'm guessing that some years ago they thought they might replace their reactors with solar panels and windmills. Not good timing. (I trust you know how to disable javascript.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/18/business/france-nuclear-power-russia.html

Yes Fester, you're probably right. And because our price gouged energy is owned or controlled by foreign interests, who don't want a bar of carbon-free MSR thorium and own the pollies?

I understand near neighbour Indonesia, is buying or has bought one. That some Scandinavian firm built in a doubled hulled barge and towed to whatever site deemed suitable.

The difference, Indonesia hasn't sold its sovereign independence to any with the money, like whore Australia.

Simply put, if we don't buy or build some SMR, MSR thorium and get the cost of energy way down! Our economy will all but die under the load we will have to carry!

Renewables won't save us but put a unrepayable yoke of debt around our necks due to the cost of batteries pumped hydro etc., that we will need just to keep the lights on let alone make green steel or aluminum, or anything that is high tech and energy dependent! I think if we go down that path our Great, Great Grandkids will still be paying interest on the never ever debt!

One doesn't need a degree to understand that or read a book!
Alan B.

Fester quotes Bloomberg, the war mongers daily, as his source of truth. haw, haw, haw.

Dan.