Hi Bazz,

Thank You for the info.

Much appreciated.

One of my previous boyfriends worked at Lucas
Heights for many years. He later went on to
complete his PhD and joined the faculty at Sydney
University. Amazing guy.

The WA grid that recorded its highest ever level of
variable renewable energy penetration was explained
that -

"At the time, 51% of of underlying system demand was
supplied by VRE output," the report notes that -
"This was a result of mild temperatures, clear skies,
(resulting in high rooftop PV output) and high wind
speeds".

The new record comes as the state grid, which is
separate to the National Electricity Market and
operates as an island, with no connections to any
other grid, grew the generating capacity of rooftop
solar and wind by an average 87MW and 63MW respectively.

Anyway, it's all fascinating stuff - that only a scientist
would understand.

I'm not a scientist - and all I can do is provide information
as I find it and leave it to others to make up their
minds on the topic. My occupational job has always been
to provide info from a variety of sources and help people
make up their own minds on issues. Today it's still an
occupational habit.

Bazz,

I've just got a few questions.

Australia is the world's biggest coal exporter
accounting for over a third of coal exports
worldwide. In 2018 coal over took iron ore as our
most valuable export.

What does our increased reliance on coal mean for
the economy and the environment and where will it
leave us when the world stops buying it?

Ha Foxy that is the $64B question.
First you have to separate the coals into steaming coal and coking coal.
Coking coal is used to make coke for the blast furnaces making iron.
It is a different grade and not used for steaming.
As I understand it if we did not sell our steaming coal we could go
for a few hundred years generating electricity cheaply.
I hope they do stop buying it. China might get cranky if we stop selling it.
By that time the Fusion process might be working and all will be loverly.

All in all it is an interesting subject on which our well being is
ultimately dependant. Nuclear is the only permanent fix.
Everything else is fiddling at the edges.

Bazz,

Provided nuclear energy production is safe. Presumably future nuclear power generation can be done safely by much smaller units, if nuclear-powered submarines are anything to go buy. Have the nuclear-power generation systems on submarines given any trouble over the last generation or so ? If not, then they sound pretty safe.

If this is the case, then why not hundreds of small units all around Australia, using material processed from Olympic Dam in SA ? Small units, powering desalination plants around our 20,000 km of coasts, for example ? Irrigating the deserts ?

IF it's safe .....

Joe

Foxy,

Why do you insist on regurgitating the myth that "Generating electricity using nuclear reactors carries high risk" as by all metrics nuclear power is by far the safest power generating system.

Secondly, while France will be closing some older 700 MW reactor it will also be commissioning some new 1650 MW reactors. It is noticeable that France's cost of power is roughly 50% of that of Germany and Denmark who have a greater proportion of renewables.

Thirdly while the cost of wind turbines and solar panels has decreased, the cost of running power lines to these generation systems has increased, and the total cost of wind and solar generation taking into account reticulation and backup is still so expensive as to need vast subsidies to make them viable.

As SM said the solar and wind get substantial subsidies that begs the
question if the cheapest why the subsidies ?
Keith Alder used to answer the safety question on radiation leakage
with the information that the slag heaps at coal fired stations are
more radioactive than nuclear power stations.

I think there are now a few rules that must be applied on nuclear.
Do not build them on coastlines facing continental plate divisions.
The Japanese should have built theirs on the west coast rather than east coast.
Earthquake zones should be avoided, or build them on big slabs.
Don't build them unless you build the 2nd & 3rd depleting reactors.

Australia has the classic possibility of a mine to power to storage
industry that will support the country forever.