Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

Waste burial problem from small nuclear reactors is the same as from large ones

antnuke-relevant1. Small Reactors and the UK’s Long-Term Nuclear Strategy. nuClear News, March 2015 “……Waste Implications The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) has looked at the waste implications of a 75GW programme [ i.e Small Modular Reactor or PRISM] which would be equivalent to a programme of over 50 new large-scale reactors.
wastesIt said that since the Government has, so far, been mainly talking about the waste inventory from only a 16GW nuclear new build programme, it should consider defining a maximum size for a deep geological facility (GDF) and make clear that we might need multiple GDFs. (15)
The Environment Agency (EA) has already set a limit on the risk that may be caused by the burial of radioactive wastes of 10-6 (i.e. one in a million). (16) Figures from the NDA Disposability Assessment Report for waste arising from new EPR reactors (17) suggest that a programme equivalent to 50 large reactors would require around four GDFs.1
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has built up a momentum for SMRs by throwing hundreds of millions of dollars in cost-shared funding to jump-start the industry…..
text-SMRsfirst someone needs to build a massive supply chain. Money for that would presumably come from customer orders – if there were any. The problem is it appears that no one actually wants to buy one
So what are prospects for small reactors, both in the UK and globally? Former CoRWM Chair, Professor Gordon Mackerron says no SMR (properly defined) has yet been commercialised anywhere in the world, and work on them has been waning because the developers cannot find a market. This is unsurprising as their cost per unit of output is higher than the already expensive conventional, larger reactors, unless hundreds can be sold to give manufacturing economies……http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/nuclearnews/NuClearNewsNo72.pdf

 

March 22, 2015 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Australian government downplays climate change, invites sceptic to talk on foreign aid

Abbott-fiddling-global-warmCritics concerned as government invites climate ‘policy sceptic’ Bjorn Lomborg to address aid staff, The Age March 23, 201 Markus Mannheim  One of the world’s most prominent climate contrarians will address Australian diplomats and aid staff on Monday – an invitation that has rankled the opposition and environmental activists……Dr Lomborg is best known for his books

The Skeptical Environmentalist  and its follow-up volume  Cool it, which were criticised by climate scientists for underplaying the rate of global warming. Last month, he accused 
“climate-change alarmists” of focusing on worst-case scenarios and ignoring more positive data……Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, Tanya Plibersek, questioned Dr Lomborg’s involvement.

“It’s up to Julie Bishop to explain why she made this choice,” she said.

“In particular, what kind of message does it send to our Pacific Island neighbours, who say dealing with the effects of climate change are some of the biggest challenges they face?”…….

Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie also opposed the government’s decision to invite Dr Lomborg, saying he had “a history of downplaying the consequences of climate change and also of cherry-picking data”. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/critics-concerned-as-government-invites-climate-policy-sceptic-bjorn-lomborg-to-address-aid-staff-20150322-1m4tor.html

 

March 22, 2015 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics international | Leave a comment

Climate change, extreme heat and bushfires in WA

climate-changeThe heat is on: climate change, extreme heat and bushfires in WA http://apo.org.au/research/heat-climate-change-extreme-heat-and-bushfires-wa

Creator:
Source: Climate Council Climate change is increasing the intensity and frequency of heatwaves in Western Australia and driving up the likelihood of very high fire danger weather.
  • Western Australia is experiencing a long-term increase in average temperatures and in 2014 the state recorded its highest ever annual average maximum temperature.
  • The number of heatwave days in Perth has increased by 50% since 1950.
  • Nine of Western Australia’s hottest Januarys on record have occurred in the last 10 years.
  • The number of days per year
    with severe fire danger weather is projected to almost double in south west Western Australia by 2090 if global carbon emissions are not drastically reduced.

Recent fires in Western Australia have been influenced by record hot dry conditions.

  • The long-term trend to hotter weather in Western Australia has worsened fire weather and contributed to an increase in the frequency and severity of bushfires.
  • The concept of a normal bushfire season is rapidly changing as bushfires increase in number, burn for longer and affect larger areas of land.
  • By 2030, the number of professional firefighters in WA will need to more than double to meet the increasing risk of bushfires.

3. The economic, social and environmental costs of increased extreme heat and bushfire activity is likely to be immense.

  • In Perth, from 1994-2006, there were over 20 heat attributable deaths per year. If average maximum temperatures were 2°C warmer, this number would almost double to 40 deaths.
  • Some of Western Australia’s most fire-prone regions may become unlivable as the risks to lives and property caused by bushfires continue to increase.
  • Without effective action on climate change, there will be 20 times the number of dangerous days for outdoor workers by 2070, reducing productivity.

4. Tackling climate change is critical to protecting Western Australia’s prosperity.

  • As a nation we must join the global effort to substantially reduce emissions and rapidly move away from fossil fuels to renewable energy if we are to limit the severity of extreme heat and bushfires both in Western Australia and nationally.

March 22, 2015 Posted by | climate change - global warming, Western Australia | Leave a comment

UK government finds that small nuclear reactors are more costly than large ones

antnuke-relevantflag-UK1. Small Reactors and the UK’s Long-Term Nuclear Strategy. nuClear News, March 2015  “……..A recent House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee investigation into small reactors looked at SMRs but also PRISM reactors – 311MW sodium-cooled fast reactors being promoted as a way of using up the plutonium stockpile at Sellafield – and reactors fuelled by thorium rather than uranium. Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) SMR proponents suggest that mass production of modular reactors could reduce costs, but others agree that SMRs are likely to have higher costs per unit of output than conventional reactors. (5) Even if SMRs could eventually be more cost-effective than larger reactors due to mass production, this advantage would only come into play if large numbers of SMRs were ordered. But utilities are unlikely to order an SMR until they are seen to produce competitively priced electricity. This Catch-22 suggests the technology will require significant government financial help to get off the ground.
SMRs Australia
The Washington-based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) says mass production could create new reliability vulnerabilities – if one reactor is discovered to have a fault, all other reactors manufactured in the same facility are likely to have the same fault, so all would have to be taken off-line at the same time. Millions of cars, presumably made to high quality control standards, for instance, are routinely recalled. Additionally IEER has serious concerns in relation to both safety and proliferation. (6) By spreading SMRs around the globe we will increase the proliferation risk because safeguarding spent fuel from numerous small reactors would be a much more complex task than safeguarding fewer large reactors. (7)…….
None of the designs, including the most credible, which are based on scaled-down versions of currently deployed PWR technology, is yet ready. NNL speaks of ‘detailed technical challenges’ not yet resolved. It is therefore no surprise that no-one has yet built a single SMR let alone made a commitment to building the large numbers that would be needed to make the economic case remotely credible. And the safety licensing process that will need to follow design completion would, according to the Chief UK nuclear inspector, take up to 6 years in the UK.
The cost of SMRs is essentially unknowable at the moment, but there is evidence to suggest they will be even more expensive than existing reactors…..

March 22, 2015 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

France’s new law for solar or plant rooftops

flag-franceFrance Says New Roofs Must Be Covered In Plants Or Solar Panels http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/20/3636746/franch-rooftops-go-green/ BY ARI PHILLIPS  MARCH 20, 2015  

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT UNDER FRANCE’S NEW GREEN ROOFTOP LAW.According to a new French law approved on Thursday, rooftops on new buildings in commercial zones across France must either be partially covered in plants or solar panels.

Green roofs, which cover rooftop space with a layer of grasses, shrubs, flowers, and other forms of flora, offer a number of benefits. They create an insulating effect, reducing the amount of energy needed to heat or cool a building depending on the season. They increase local access to green space, which often comes at a premium in urban environments. They retain rainwater, thus decreasing runoff and any related drainage issues. They provide a space for urban wildlife, such as birds, to congregate and even nest, and they reduce air pollution by acting as natural filters.

 Green rooftops also significantly reduce the urban “heat island” effect in which urban areas are noticeably warmer than their surroundings. The heat island effect can cause large cities to get 1.8°F to 5.4°F warmer than surrounding areas in the day, and 22°F warmer at night,according to the EPA. This effect happens when buildings, roads, and other developments replace formerly open land and greenery, causing surfaces to become moist and impermeable, and to warm up.

Approved by French Parliament, the law was scaled back from initial proposals by environmental groups asking for green roofs to cover the entire rooftop surface of all new buildings. The compromise gave businesses a choice to install solar panels instead or to only cover part of the roof in foliage.

Even in a trimmed-down form, the law is trailblazing and will both change the urban landscape of cities across France as well as potentially inspire other countries to follow suit, especially with the United Nations’ climate summit coming to Paris at the end of the year.

France has lagged behind other major European countries like Germany, Italy and Spain in solar power development. As of last summer, France had just over five gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity, accounting for around one percent of total energy consumption. Germany has nearly 40 GWs installed. France is heavily reliable on nuclear power for its energy, and nuclear generation in 2012 made upabout 83 percent of the country’s total generation.

March 22, 2015 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment