Fairfax media uncritically regurgitates China-Bill Gates pro nuclear propaganda
This isn’t the first time that Cole Latimer has regurgitated nuclear propaganda – this time from China, (though Latimer also regurgitates some good stuff, and even writes some of his own)
Of course – they didn’t say that the reasons for Bill Gates’ doing this in China:
1. Because China does not have the strict safety regulations that USA has – so Gates can’t do this in USA
2. Because China’s nukes are tax-payer funded – so no worries about getting funding – (in USA there’s quite an outcry about the govt funding nukes)
3. The article made a virtue out of the reactor using ‘waste fuel’ from conventional reactors – ignoring all the transport safety problems etc.
4 The article brushed over the fact that even this new reactor leaves long-lasting radioactive trash – smaller in volume, yes, but so toxic that it need equal space to safely store
The article glosses over the fuel “waste uranium” “depleted uranium” as if that’s fine.
There’s an area that I find ambiguous:
“This joint venture aims to design and construct multiple nuclear power plants generating around 1150 megawatts over the next two decades which utilise this fourth generation nuclear technology. ….” “the reactor would only need eight tonnes of this material to power 2.5 million homes for a year.”
Do they mean that ONE reactor would provide all this power? They might. But as I understand it, the Travelling Wave Reactor is a small model, that would need to be set up as a bunch of multiples – (further making it difficult to market, as a country would have to order them en masse. I say a country, because apart from Gates and a few mates, private enterprise is unwilling to take this huge financial risk)
Bill Gates and China partner on world-first nuclear technology , Cole Latimer, SMH, The Age, and global media outlets, 8 November 17
Bill Gates’ nuclear firm TerraPower and the China National Nuclear Corporation have signed an agreement to develop a world-first nuclear reactor, using other nuclear reactors’ waste
TerraPower chairman Bill Gates and Chinese premier Li Keqiang signed a joint venture agreement to create the Global Innovation Nuclear Energy Technology company, which will build a Travelling Wave Reactor and commercialise the technology…… http://www.smh.com.au/business/energy/bill-gates-and-china-partner-on-worldfirst-nuclear-technology-20171106-gzfrf0.html
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