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SILICON
CHIP
www.siliconchip.com.au
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD
Production Manager
Greg Swain, B.Sc.(Hons.)
Technical Editor
Peter Smith
Technical Staff
John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.)
Ross Tester
Jim Rowe, B.A., B.Sc, VK2ZLO
Reader Services
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Advertising Enquiries
Lawrence Smith
Benedictus Smith Pty Ltd
Phone (02) 9211 8035
Fax: (02) 9211 0068
lawrence<at>benedictus-smith.com
Regular Contributors
Brendan Akhurst
Rodney Champness, VK3UG
Julian Edgar, Dip.T.(Sec.), B.Ed,
Grad.Dip.Jnl
Mike Sheriff, B.Sc, VK2YFK
Stan Swan
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Publisher’s Letter
Australia should build
nuclear power stations
Australian cities are facing power shortages
and we need to build new power stations to keep
up with the demand. The New South Wales state
government has just announced the intention to
build two new gas-fired power stations (300MW
& 400MW) and that is a good move, especially
as they have not opted for coal-fired stations.
We have been against the building of new coalfired stations in Australian for quite a few years
now. But the new gas-fired stations are mainly
intended for meeting peak loads, not base load. Ultimately, New South Wales
and other states are going to need more base load power stations. And in the
past, the only option has been coal-fired. Renewable power such as hydro,
wind and solar can only take us so far, since they can only make a relatively
small contribution (say 20% maximum) to the overall energy mix.
But coal-fired stations are no longer an attractive option. For a start,
Australia is already being pilloried for its large carbon dioxide emissions
and more coal-fired stations will only make that worse. Second, open-cut
coal mines are an enormous blight on the landscape – hundreds of square
kilometres of open-cut scar has to be seen to be believed – and extremely
costly to restore and re-vegetate. And you can forget these weird schemes
for underground carbon dioxide sequestration – that just ain’t gonna happen
in spite of there being at least one small installation overseas.
So that leaves nuclear power. And why not? There is no pollution in
normal operation (apart from the huge amounts of waste heat produced, as
with any thermal power station). Nor is there any huge mining scar – we
already have several uranium mines which could easily satisfy Australia’s
demand. And we will eventually be storing long-term nuclear waste in the
Northern Territory, following recent enabling legislation. So why not take
the next logical step and build some nuclear power stations?
The first one could be sited next to the proposed Sydney water desalination plant at Kurnell. This will need a great deal of power and it just makes
a lot of sense to build the power station next to it, just as Perth’s desalination
plant will be built next to the existing Kwinana power station. To make it
worthwhile, the proposed nuclear power station should not just meet the
demands of the desalination plant when it is operating but also make a
reasonable contribution to Sydney’s base load. In fact, if possible, it would
make sense to power the desalination plant only at night and provide base
power during the day. That probably means a rating of at least one Gigawatt
but perhaps it should be substantially bigger, so older inefficient coal-fired
stations can be taken off line.
Sure, there will initially be a huge outcry from those people who are
paranoid about nuclear power but tens of millions of people in the UK,
Europe, Japan and the USA have managed to live happily near nuclear
power stations for decades so why should we be any different? But has any
Australian government got the gumption to do it?
Leo Simpson
ISSN 1030-2662
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