<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/too-slow-and-too-risky-and-its-waste-wont-fit-in-a-coke-can-engineers-debunk-coalition-nuclear-plan/>
"The Australian Academy for Technological Sciences and Engineering has joined
other scientific, engineering and energy experts in describing the federal
Coalition’s preferred nuclear technology as too slow and too risky.
ATSE has released a detailed assessment on the status of small modular
reactors, the nuclear technology embraced by the federal Coalition as a key
part of its nuclear power plan, and a technology it claims could produce
electricity in Australia by 2035.
The ATSE report says the more likely timeline is “beyond 2040”, and most likely
in the late 2040s, and too slow to be of use in joining the urgent efforts of
addressing dangerous climate change. If Australia rushed to embrace an unproven
technology, ATSE warns, it will be both risky and potentially very costly.
“The urgency to decarbonise our energy sector has never been greater,” ATSE
chair Dr Katherine Woodthorpe told a media briefing ahead of the report’s
formal release on Wednesday.
“It (nuclear SMRs) will not come in time to assist in that. To combat the
climate change that we’ve already seeing around us … we will need to be putting
in more renewables because they’re the only thing that can provide energy in
the timescale that we need to transition our grid.”
The ATSE view is entirely consistent with those expressed by the CSIRO, the
Australian Energy Market Operator, the Australian Energy Regulator and leading
figures in the energy industry, all of whom point out that nuclear is too slow,
too costly and unsuited to Australia’s grid, and that it would be unlikely to
be able to make any meaningful contribution before 2050.
All of these institutions have been attacked relentlessly by the Coalition and
its conservative echo-chamber in the mainstream media as “outliers” or biased.
The Coalition has indicated it wants to keep coal fired power plants open until
it can start up nuclear reactors, and The Nationals have demanded a moratorium
on all new wind, solar and battery projects, and threatened to tear up
Commonwealth contracts if it is returned to government."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
