Umm....Australia: #Earthquake damages buildings near site of proposed #Nuclear Plant
By Ben Cubby and Jessica McSweeney
August 23, 2024
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/earthquake-damages-buildings-near-site-of-proposed-nuclear-plant-20240823-p5k4te.html?js-chunk-not-found-refresh=true
#NoNukes #NoNukesAustralia
Call to end #NuclearPower ban brings heated reaction in #Australia
Opposition wants to change law and build new plants but critics say focus should remain on #RenewableEnergy
"Another factor is the #Aukus security agreement with the US and UK, which entails #nuclearpowered #submarines being built in Australia and will require the country to store #weaponsgrade #RadioactiveWaste."
by Nic Fildes
August 12, 2024
"Dutton’s pitch has pushed energy policy to the fore ahead of next year’s election, as Australia — rich in resources and a big exporter of energy in the form of coal, liquefied natural gas and uranium — grapples with how to decarbonise its economy.
Anthony Albanese’s Labor government has put its focus on renewable energy, passing legislation that targets a 43 per cent cut in carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050. It hopes to rapidly phase out coal — which has accounted for almost two-thirds of power generation over the past year — and deliver 82 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
But the opposition Liberals and their allies, the rurally focused Nationals, have pledged to abandon the 2030 target and scrap large-scale wind farm projects. They say nuclear energy could deliver power from the middle of next decade. "
Archive:
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Source:
https://www.ft.com/content/89c1ea46-29bc-4a7e-9943-a420b3f1512c
#NuclearWeapons #NuclearPlants #NoNukes #NoWar #NoNukesAustralia #NoUraniumMining #NoMiningWithoutConsent #NuclearColonialism #RenewablesNow
[Paywall] #Australia’s #Renewables Drive Backed By Miners, #Environmentalists
• Support comes after opposition calls for energy policy rethink
• Gas giant Woodside says it backs market operator’s system plan
By Ben Westcott
July 18, 2024
"A disparate group including Australian mining lobbyists and environmentalists have banded together to back the government’s renewable energy transition plan, after opposition lawmakers called for it to be abandoned.
"The Australian Industry Group joined with a coalition of organizations including the Clean Energy Council, the National Farmers’ Federation and the #WorldWildlifeFund to call for a 'credible and consistent energy framework,' including the retention of the current 2030 emissions reduction target and greater investment in #RenewableEnergy."
#NoNukes #NoNukesAustralia
#Australia #Solar #Tidal #RenewablesNow #ProtectWildlife #ProtectNature #WaterIsLife
#Nuclear not the solution #Australia needs, says electricity grid chief
AEMO determined the best and lowest-cost pathway through energy transition was to build a grid dominated by #renewables, firmed up with #battery and #hydropower storage, and backed up by gas-powered generation
Nick Toscano
By Nick Toscano
July 16, 2024
"Australia’s energy market operator has dismissed claims that #nuclear is the answer to the power grid’s challenges, warning the technology is expensive and cannot be developed in time to replace rapidly retiring #coalfired generators.
"Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has revived Australia’s long-running climate wars ahead of the next federal election, mounting attacks against the government’s renewable energy rollout plans and calling for seven #NuclearPower stations to be built by 2050.
"However, Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) chief executive Daniel Westerman cautioned on Tuesday that nuclear was a 'comparatively expensive' power source and would take too long to develop in Australia, rendering it an impractical solution to the electricity grid’s most pressing needs.
"'Even on the most optimistic outlook, nuclear power won’t be ready in time for the exit of Australia’s coal-fired power stations,' Westerman said. 'And the imperative to replace that retiring generation is with us now.'
"Australia’s coal-fired power stations, the backbone of the electricity sector for more than half a century, are increasingly bringing forward closure dates as their ageing equipment becomes less reliable and less competitive against cheaper r#enewables.
"At least half of the 14 remaining #coal plants on the eastern seaboard are scheduled to shut before 2035."
[...]
"Westerman, speaking at the Australian Clean Energy Summit on Tuesday, pointed to research from the CSIRO and AEMO that found nuclear was one of the most expensive forms of electricity.
"That report concluded that Australia’s first nuclear plant would cost up to $16 billion, and could not be operational until at least 2040, despite the Coalition promising it would be ready in the 2030s."
#NoNukes #NoNukesAustralia
#Australia #Solar #Tidal #RenewablesNow #ProtectWildlife #ProtectNature #WaterIsLife
Enough water for #nuclear reactors in #NSW but scientists worry about #wildlife
July 19, 2024
"The federal opposition has proposed seven #NuclearPowerPlants across the country if it wins the next election.
"Its plan involves building the plants on retiring or retired #coal sites, including two in #NewSouthWales, at #Liddell in the #HunterValley and #MountPiper near #Lithgow.
[...]
#Environmental concerns
"The environmental impact of both [closed-loop and once through] systems has raised concerns in #conservation groups.
"While the closed-loop system does not return water warmer to the supply than when it was taken out, the once-through cooling process does.
"Professor Johnson said changes to the temperature of #LakeLyell and #LakeLiddell could be harmful aquatic native #wildlife.
"'#Ecosystems are evolved and used to a certain temperature range, so when temperatures are higher than that, it can change all the things that live in the river,' she said.
"Jacqui Mills from the NSW Nature Conservation Council believed the once-through cooling method could have #catastrophic consequences.
"'If you have hot water discharges, it will very likely kill microorganisms,' Ms Mills said.
"'That has a flow-on impact for the creatures that rely on them like #platypus. It basically disrupts the #environment.'
"Julie Favell from the Lithgow Environment Group said recent examples of coal and other #mining industries breaching #environmental #regulations gave her 'no confidence' that a #NuclearPlant would be safe.
"'Over the past 20 years we have seen so many impacts on #swamps, #waterways, the damage in most cases is irreversible,' she said.
"'You cannot erase human error and natural disasters. There would be nothing left if one of those incidents happened.'"
#NoNukes #NoNukesAustralia #Australia #Solar #Tidal #RenewablesNow #ProtectWildlife #ProtectNature #WaterIsLife
Taxpayers are usually the ones who are on the hook for nuclear -- especially cleanup or accidents. #PriceAndersonAct
Coalition's #nuclear plan is 'virtually impossible' without #taxpayer funding
David Chau
June 16, 2024
"Earlier this year, Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto told ABC Radio Melbourne that he did not support the construction of nuclear reactors in the #LaTrobeValley, the site of existing coal-fired power stations.
"Queensland's Liberal-National leader David Crisafulli said nuclear was not on his agenda 'because it just won't happen until Canberra sorts that out'.
"Some of the most vocal opposition has come from New South Wales' former Liberal treasurer Matt Kean, who dismissed nuclear as 'hugely #expensive' and a 'Trojan horse' for the #CoalIndustry.
In addition, the nation's leading "scientific body, the CSIRO, says it would take at least 15 years to build a large-scale #NuclearPowerPlant — and it would cost twice as much to produce electricity through nuclear reactors when compared with #renewable sources."
@johnlorimer No need for #Nuclear plants, I'd say!
#NoNukes #NoNukesAustralia
