What's behind the sudden talk of small, modular nuclear power for Australia? Angus Taylor on Radio National Breakfast one morning, talking them up; then Ziggy Switkowski the next - both speculating that this type of nuclear could be a good way to go. See this article at the ABC website about it.
Given that the concept of this type of nuclear power being deployed has been around for a long time now, yet still appears to be no where near actually being sold as a commercial product, there is something more than a bit suspicious about why it is on the minds of Coalition politicians suddenly. I would guess some lobbying from some industry group from the US?
John Quiggin explained back in 2014 why this nuclear option was dubious at best - and re-reading that post, it seems little has happened to change his assessment. Indeed, JQ has posted recently that it is really an "entire exercise...founded in fantasy".
I used to think there was promise in small, modular nuclear - but the fact that it has languished in development suggests that it just doesn't add up. (One thing I have always had my doubts about was the oft repeated idea that they could just be buried on site - which might be a good containment idea as far as the atmosphere is concerned if one blows up, but isn't such a great idea for the water table.)
If making small nuclear work would take a lot of government directed research and investment, then it now appears to me it may well be more beneficial to put the effort into new, large scale storage instead. There are some ideas there which seem to warrant support.
You are late on this.
ReplyDeleteNukes is way too costly and would take sol ong to build we all be dead!
As you might know I concur with Professor Quiggin that based on empirical evidence nuclear is likely to be a disaster. But this is not inherent to the technology. Its inherent to the way we approach infrastructure projects and big projects. Ziggy is symbolic of the problem having presided over at least two projects where they screwed up.
ReplyDeleteWe need massive reform on big projects and on infrastructure. But when we get it we need nuclear as well. To fail to have nuclear is to misuse our coal resources. Its just a crying shame to see such wastefulness. I also support the left in slowing our coal exports because I think that until we have reform we want to be leery about letting all this coal go so quickly. In the 2030's everyone will be in dire straights and maybe we could ease up then for neighbourly, diplomatic and humanitarian reasons. But for now I like the idea of being misers with our coal exports.
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