A bit wet

[Outlaw Yogi]

Better start voting Libs then tard because nukes will never happen under a liebor-green coalition. The green tail will always wag the liebor dog

In Australia, building nuclear reactors would not only be irresponsible and impractical as a means of addressing climate change, it would also be illegal because the Howard government outlawed the construction of nuclear power reactors in the 1998 Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act. Interestingly, the government made nuclear power illegal with little or no prompting from environmental and anti-nuclear groups.

http://antinuclear.net/information/5-global-warming/

[mantra]

Seeing as this is a flood thread,and JM thinks GW intensified weather extremes justifies spuiking the nuke industries false claims of reducing GHG emissions, I think it appropriate to point out reactor location is restricted by access to water, so are positioned near the sea or large rivers.

Those who are pro nuclear are blind to the problems. From mining to decommissioning - they're a headache and outrageously expensive and even though there are a couple of older NP stations around - they are considered unstable by everyone except the World Nuclear Association. They've got a "guaranteed" life span of 25-35 years - yet once they get to this age - you have to find new sites to build new reactors to replace the existing ones - as they can take up to 25 years to build.

Hopefully current and future governments will remain sane enough about the cost and the hassle never to introduce them here.

The inner totalitarian of your average Greens member/voter - "Do what we say or be severely punished and, while you're at it, shut the fuck up while you're paying more taxes and subsidies for useless green technology while we fly around the world on greenhouse-gas belching planes, live in energy/water-thirsty homes and take donations from wealthy businessmen while criticising other parties for doing just that."

The pro rata system was discussed by the Coalition and Labor. I don't recall the Greens talking about introducing this at all. Our politicians might be extravagant greenhouse gas belching leeches - but the average person tries not to be.

The cost of electricity is sky rocketing and if many of us are prepared to reduce our consumption to a certain level - why should those who choose to go above average use not have to pay for it. What could be fairer than having a certain amount of kwh allocated per person, but those who go above this allocation having to pay a higher rate. Exceptions would be made of course for the elderly and frail.

[Jovial Monk]

It has also been achieved only for a split second. It will eventually be the main power source, the Large Hadron Collider has provided some clues but when sustained, tappable fusion power will be achieved is anybody’s guess. Same for the space elevator, hence the need for nuclear.

I was against nuclear for a long time, but we need it now. Thorium, of which we have plenty, will be the main fuel. I have changed my mind on this but still would not want a Gen 1 or 2 reactor here.

Again, a decent solar thermal power station will need to be 20Km by 20Km in size and that will cost much more than equivalent (same # gigawatts) than a 4th Gen nuclear and need a huge power line to send the power from a northern desert location (only place to put it) to the coastal areas where our population lives. No, 4th Gen nuclear is our only way of realistically cutting our emissions in the short to medium term.

Other things, yeah, renew the indexation of petrol excise to remove petrol guzzlers from the roads, pass the ETS to set a definite carbon price so the generators can invest in new equipment. The NBN will allow much more telecommuting, cutting the number of emissions belching cars inching along the roads at peak hour.

[Outlaw Yogi]

Let me know when a viable and reliable commercial plant comes on line. Until then, it is just a pie in the sky.

Real estate and climate are just two limiting factors.
Solar thermal is ancillary at best

California is using solar thermal as base load power and solar PV as peak load power.
Las Vagas is doing exactly the same. Y'know all those pretty lights in Vagas?
They run on sunshine.

[Outlaw Yogi]

It has also been achieved only for a split second. It will eventually be the main power source,

A process which consumes more energy than it generates is not and cannot be a power source, unless you know a way to circumvent the 2nd law of thermodynamics. So remains fantasy.

EDIT ADDITION - ETS is only being advocated because the Europeans proved it a failure. ETS is nothing more than making money off selling licenses to pollute more.
A genuine 'carbon tax' would have worked if introduced 20+ years ago.
Now that methane clathrates are thawing, we have passed the tipping point into runaway global warming, so its too late.
Nothing we do now will make any difference. Time for abatement has passed. Our current civilisation is doomed unless we adopt adaptation and mitigation programs, which means moving all essential infrastructure to higher ground inland.

[Jovial Monk]

A matter of design and invention, controlling the reaction by reshaping the “magnetic bottle” fusion offers so much power (remember e = mc^2)

[IQS.RLOW]

Let me know when a viable and reliable commercial plant comes on line. Until then, it is just a pie in the sky.

Real estate and climate are just two limiting factors.
Solar thermal is ancillary at best

California is using solar thermal as base load power and solar PV as peak load power.
Las Vagas is doing exactly the same. Y'know all those pretty lights in Vagas?
They run on sunshine.

You'd be wrong
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_po ... .2Fcoal.29

~ 15000MW produced by gas/coal power plants
~ 1400MW by combined solar/ solar thermal

[Outlaw Yogi]

A matter of design and invention, controlling the reaction by reshaping the “magnetic bottle” fusion offers so much power (remember e = mc^2)

Indeed I do ... Energy = Mass times the speed of light multiplied by the speed of light.

That would be fine if light was a constant, but light isn't a constant. If it was it would always travel in a straight line and not be bent by black holes. More proof is that different coloured light within the light spectrum travels at different speeds .. for example blue light travels faster than red light.

[Outlaw Yogi]

California is using solar thermal as base load power and solar PV as peak load power.
Las Vagas is doing exactly the same. Y'know all those pretty lights in Vagas?
They run on sunshine.

You'd be wrong
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_po ... .2Fcoal.29

~ 15000MW produced by gas/coal power plants
~ 1400MW by combined solar/ solar thermal

I would be if I'd claimed they were their only power sources, but I didn't.

While some solar power plants have auxilary back ups from coal or gas, nuke power plants can't function without them.

[IQS.RLOW]

While some solar power plants have auxilary back ups from coal or gas

You mean some coal/gas plants have an auxilary solar feed