The week in Nuclear News – Australia
Oh it’s climate again! How can we ignore it? This time, it’s not just the heat-waves across the Norther hemisphere, but the effects of that hot air moving to the Arctic. Greenland and the Arctic in general, are headed for a record sea ice melt. It will be an unprecedented ice loss – ultimately rapid loss will lead to rising sea levels.
Nuclear news? There doesn’t seem to be much. Is that because the important stuff is kept secret, or at best, pretty quiet? Russia is the best at this. Now it is revealed, by an international team of scientists, that in September 2017 there must have been a nuclear accident at the Mayak nuclear reprocessing facility in Southern Russia. It’s the only feasible explanation for the cloud of Ruthenium-106 across Europe in late September.
New economic research discusses nuclear power’s real costs – ‘seven decades of economic ruin’. (a brief report on this is here)
Bits of good news – International kindness to Chernobyl children from radiation-contaminated areas – but more help is needed. For First Time Ever, Scientists Identify How Many Trees to Plant and Where to Plant Them to Stop Climate Crisis
AUSTRALIA
It’s climate here, too. Except that the current Australian government doesn’t believe that climate change is a serious problem. Australia is in an unprecedented drought – long-lasting, and across wide areas. With this government, “water shortage”is becoming an unmentionable political term like “climate change”. (Officially no human -caused climate change in Australia) but Queensland towns are running out of water. And Norther Territory towns are running out of water.
- Chair of the Energy Security Board, Kerry Schott says Feds “can’t get their act together” on climate, so states will step up.
- Papua New Guinea Prime Minister urges Australia to help island nations threatened by climate change.
- Noosa the first Queensland council to declare a climate emergency – Mayor explains why.
- Adani’s Carmichael coal mine surviving on lifeline from Indian parent company.
NUCLEAR.
- Australian Senate passes motion to retain Australia’s ban on nuclear power. Australia’s legal ban on nuclear power will remain, says Environment Minister Sussan Ley. Flynn electorate, Queensland, would be happy to host nuclear power plant, National Party MP Ken O’Dowd says.
- Restrictions on operations of Lucas Heights nuclear reactor, following a litany of safety incidents. To add to its safety problems, ANSTO has had to increase prices for nuclear medicine from the Lucas Heights reactor.
- New Minerals Council chair Helen Coonan speaks out for nuclear power, and for Adani coal mine. Australia’s right-wing push for nuclear power is really a ruse to promote the coal industry.
- News South Wales South Coast touted as the place to site a nuclear power plant. Labor leader Anthony Albanese asks “Where would the Liberal Coalition like nuclear reactors to be placed“? National Party Member for Gippsland Darren Chester makes reassuring, but rather ambiguous, noises against setting up nuclear power.
- State Development Minister Cameron Dick says that nuclear power would gut Queensland. Union opposes nuclear power because it is uneconomic and dangerous.
- Senate moved to call on Senator Canavan to explain nuclear waste dump plan – size of dump, and types of wastes.
- “Smile With Kids”- Queensland welcomes Fukushima children for a much-needed holiday.
- URANIUM. Continuing problem of radioactive waste at Hunters Hill – contamination from old uranium processing site. Rio Tinto moves to own Ranger uranium mine remediation.
RENEWABLE ENERGY. Energy minister Angus Taylor a no-show at clean energy summit. Wind and solar turn up ramping pressure in South Australia and Queensland. Queensland drops bidding directions, says wind and solar less than $50/MWh. Solar dominates day-time markets, lifting share and pushing down prices. CEFC looks to energy storage, grid stability, after record spend on renewables. Victoria drafts new guidelines to smooth way for solar farms.
BHP casts doubt on renewables as it commits $US400m to cut emissions – via including nuclear power and carbon capture,
Senate voted on Press Freedoms – Matter of Public importance.
INTERNATIONAL
‘Thermal limits’ – extreme heat effects on the body
The horrors of nuclear weapons testing – 460,000 premature deaths.
New report: nuclear energy cannot be classified as “clean”, nor as economic.
ARCTIC. Unprecedented wildfires in the Arctic release huge CO2 to the atmosphere.
Australian Senate passes motion to retain Australia’s ban on nuclear power
This motion was moved by Senator Hanson-Young and passed by the Senate, 29 July 19
Flynn electorate, Queensland, would be happy to host nuclear power plant, National Party MP Ken O’Dowd says
My area would accept nuclear: Qld Nats MP, The Islander, Rebecca Gredley , 29 July 19,
Federal Nationals MP Ken O’Dowd says his electorate would accept a local nuclear power plant, spruiking the energy source as the “safest” for electricity.
“Study after study in scientific journals prove that nuclear power plants are by far the best and safest way to make reliable electricity,” the Queenslander told the lower house on Monday.
Labor MPs in the chamber heckled Mr O’Dowd during his speech, questioning where he would propose to build a nuclear power plant in Australia.
The Nationals MP said it would take 20 years to build a power station, so the debate needed to start sooner rather than later…….
Mr O’Dowd is one of a handful Nationals MPs calling for a feasibility study into nuclear power. …….https://www.theislanderonline.com.au/story/6299668/my-area-would-accept-nuclear-qld-nats-mp/?cs=7
Restrictions on operations of Lucas Heights nuclear reactor, following a litany of safety incidents
Man who urinated in backyard exposed family to radiation, https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/man-who-urinated-in-backyard-exposed-family-to-radiation-20190729-p52bt4.html By Nicole Hasham July 29, 2019 A patient being treated with nuclear medicine who exposed his family to radiation after urinating in his backyard, and a worker who spilled a vial of radioactive liquid onto his hands are among hundreds of reported mishaps involving nuclear substances in Australia.
The cases have been detailed as the Queensland Liberal National Party declared its opposition to using nuclear technology to produce electricity – a position at odds with Queensland federal Coalition members pushing for a parliamentary inquiry into the issue.
Radiation incidents in Australia are reported to the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA). Its latest register covers 575 incidents reported in 2017.
They include a worker who spilled a vial of irradiated solution when trying to remove its cap. It is understood the incident occurred at the Lucas Heights nuclear facility in southern Sydney.
Despite the worker wearing two pairs of gloves, his hands were contaminated causing “tissue reactions”. The exposure was considered serious and reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
In another case, a patient self-discharged from hospital after receiving radiotherapy involving nuclear medicine. After returning home he “urinated outside” and contaminated “the rear yard”. Turf and soil was removed to address the hazard.
Other incidents included a lung cancer patient who was given double doses of radiation, and a radioactive vial that broke in a microwave.
The report concluded that radiation use in Australia “is generally very safe” but unexpected events can occur “even with strict controls in place”.
But new Minerals Council chair Helen Coonan on Monday said a parliamentary inquiry into nuclear power would ensure issues such as safety were better understood.
“I think it’s time to give it a go quite frankly. There’s a long way to go, of course, because there are legislative barriers and there needs to be political will,” Ms Coonan told the ABC.
Federal and state laws currently ban nuclear power, and any push to develop a home-grown industry would need state support. However even state-based Liberal-Nationals have so far failed to back the prospect.
Queensland LNP Leader Deb Frecklington said in a statement that her party “does not support nuclear power in Queensland” and a spokesman for the Liberal South Australian government said it has “no plans to change its current legislation governing nuclear energy”.
Victorian Labor Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said it “makes no sense to build nuclear power stations in Australia. They present significant community, health and environmental risks”.
Queensland Hinkler MP Keith Pitt, one of two backbenchers spearheading the push for a nuclear inquiry, on Monday said despite the Queensland LNP’s position, the party’s members were “very strongly supportive” of nuclear energy.
He said discussions on the issue were ongoing with Energy Minister Angus Taylor and the office of Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Mr Taylor said on Monday that the government has “no plans” to change the nuclear power moratorium.
Meanwhile, ARPANSA has confirmed that restrictions remain in place at the Lucas Heights nuclear facility after an incident last month when two workers were exposed to radiation.
Under the restrictions, the facility run by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation can produce enough nuclear medicine to meet domestic demand only. A spokeswoman said the ANSTO must provide evidence of safe operation in fortnightly reports, training records and evidence of satisfactory staffing levels and rostering arrangements before the restrictions are lifted, which could take “several months”.
New Minerals Council chair Helen Coonan speaks out for nuclear power, and for Adani coal mine
Nuclear power should be considered for Australia: Minerals Council chair Helen Coonan, ABC, By senior business correspondent Peter Ryan 29 Jul 19, Newly appointed Minerals Council chair Helen Coonan has become the latest business heavyweight to call for nuclear power to be considered as part of Australia’s future energy mix.
Key points:
- The Minerals Council’s new chair Helen Coonan says there should be a parliamentary inquiry into nuclear power for Australia
- Ms Coonan’s comments come in response to statements from BHP’s CEO saying that climate change poses “an existential risk” to the planet
- She backed Adani’s Carmichael coal mine, saying the company “wouldn’t be proceeding if they didn’t have the business model to sustain the mine”
The former Howard government minister said the “nuclear option” should be on the table, along with renewables, as the resources industry edges away from fossil fuels in the coming decades.
Speaking to the ABC’s AM program, Ms Coonan said Australians were ready for a “sensible conversation” about nuclear power generation, which is currently outlawed in Australia.
“I think it’s time to give it a go quite frankly. There’s a long way to go, of course, because there are legislative barriers and there needs to be political will,” Ms Coonan said in her first broadcast interview as the Minerals Council of Australia’s chair……..
Ms Coonan’s push for nuclear power came as she responded to growing concerns about the future of coal, after BHP chief executive Andrew Mackenzie recently said climate change posed “an existential risk” to the planet.
Federal and state legislation blocks the development of local nuclear power generation, although calls are growing for a parliamentary inquiry into the feasibility of a local industry
Last week, former National Party leader Barnaby Joyce suggested residents living near a nuclear reactor could be offered free nuclear power.
Ms Coonan — the first Minerals Council chair to come from outside the resources industry — did not sidestep environmental and safety concerns, but suggested Australia could consider smaller nuclear power stations, unlike the giant plants in the US, Europe and China.
“You’ve always got to be concerned about safety and that applies to nuclear power,” she said.
“It’s important to that any technology any mine and any power source is safe.”
Minerals Council backs Adani mine
Ms Coonan backed the approval of Adani’s Carmichael mine in central Queensland and said tough regulation was unnecessarily delaying projects………..
Last week, University of Sydney forensic accounting specialist Sandra van der Laan told the ABC that Adani’s corporate structure was “a corporate collapse waiting to happen”.
In an analysis labelled by Adani as false and misleading, Professor van der Laan likened Adani’s complex structure to the US energy giant Enron, which collapsed in spectacular fashion in 2001.
In addition to the Minerals Council role, Ms Coonan is also chair of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority and a non-executive director at Crown Resorts. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-29/nuclear-power-australia-should-be-considered-minerals-council/11359998
Nuclear power ‘seven decades of economic ruin’, says new report
Nuclear power ‘seven decades of economic ruin’, says new report https://www.pressenza.com/2019/07/nuclear-power-seven-decades-of-economic-ruin-says-new-report/ 29.07.2019 – London, United Kingdom – Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament New research has found that almost all nuclear power plants built since the nuclear industry’s inception have generated large financial losses.
The report by the German Institute for Economic Research examines 674 nuclear power plants built since 1951. Its authors found that typical nuclear power plants averaged 4.8 billion euros in losses.
The report authors argue that new technology for nuclear plants won’t solve the underlying economic difficulties: “Those in favor of nuclear energy like to point out the ongoing technological developments that could lead to it growing more efficient in the future.
“They include ‘fourth generation’ nuclear power plants and mini-nuclear power plants (small modular reactors, SMRs). Anything but new, both concepts have their roots in the early phase of nuclear power in the 1950s. Then as now, there was no hope that the technologies would become economical and established.”
Kate Hudson, CND general secretary, said:
“The history of nuclear power is seven decades of economic ruin and environmental catastrophe. Toshiba’s decision last year to abandon plans to build a reactor at Moorside in Cumbria and Hitachi’s suspension of work this year on the Wylfa Newydd plant in Anglesey simply reflect the economic reality that this report sets out.
“Nuclear power isn’t only expensive, it creates an unsolvable waste problem, and as the TV drama Chernobyl so graphically reveals, nuclear accidents create human misery and environmental destruction.
“Our new Prime Minister should learn these lessons and adopt a fresh approach to energy that centres on clean and economically viable renewable technology.”
The huge and long job, of cleaning up Fukushima Daiichi’s high radiation
Robots come to the rescue after Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, CBS News, CORRESPONDENTLesley Stahl, Produced by Richard Bonin and Ayesha Siddiqi , 28 July 19
Eight years after a powerful earthquake and tsunami caused a massive nuclear meltdown in the Daiichi Power Plant, Lesley Stahl reports on the unprecedented cleanup effort
More than eight years have passed since a monster earthquake and tsunami struck Northeast Japan and triggered what became, after Chernobyl, the worst nuclear disaster in history at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
As we first reported last fall, when three of the plant’s six reactors melted down, hot fuel turned to molten lava and burned through steel walls and concrete floors. To this day, no one knows exactly where inside the reactor buildings the fuel is. And it is so deadly, no human can go inside to look for it. So the Japanese company that owns the crippled plant has turned to robots.
There are four-legged robots, robots that climb stairs and even robots that can swim into reactors flooded with water. They’re equipped with 3D scanners, sensors and cameras that map the terrain, measure radiation levels and look for the missing fuel.
This is part of a massive clean up that’s expected to cost nearly $200 billion and take decades.
Lesley Stahl: Has anything like this cleanup, in terms of the scope, ever happened before?
Lake Barrett: No, this is a unique situation here. It’s never happened in human history. It’s a challenge we’ve never had before………..
Lesley Stahl: Why not just bury this place? Why not do what they did at Chernobyl? Just cover it up, bury it, and just leave it here all– you know, enclosed?
Lake Barrett: Number one this is right next to the sea. We’re 100 yards from the ocean. We have typhoons here in Japan. This is also a high earthquake zone. And there’s gonna be future earthquakes. So these are unknowns that the Japanese and no one wants to deal with………
Lesley Stahl: How many tons of radioactive waste was developed here?
Lake Barrett: Probably 500 to 1,000 tons in each building.
Lesley Stahl: So how long will it be lethal?
Lake Barrett: It will be lethal for thousands of years.
Lesley Stahl: What we’re talking about really is three meltdowns?
Lake Barrett: Yes. It was truly Hell on Earth.
No one is gonna send a worker in there because they’d be overexposed in just a matter of seconds.”
The meltdowns triggered huge explosions that sent plumes of radioactive debris into the atmosphere, forcing the evacuation of everyone within a 12-mile radius – about 160,000 people in all. Weeks later, TEPCO officials engaged in so-called kowtow diplomacy – allowing townspeople to berate them as they prostrated themselves in apology.
Thousands of workers were sent to the countryside to decontaminate everything touched by radiation including digging up dirt and putting it in bags – lots of bags.
But while much of the evacuation zone has been decontaminated, there are still entire neighborhoods that are like ghost towns, silent and lifeless with radiation levels that remain too high.
At the plant they’re capturing contaminated groundwater, about 150 tons a day, and storing it in tanks, as far as the eye can see.
Lake Barrett: Water is always the major challenge here. And it’s going to remain a major challenge until the entire cores are removed.
The closer workers get to the reactors, the more protective gear they have to wear, as we discovered………..
In the years since the accident, much of the damage to the building has been repaired.
But it’s still dangerous to spend a lot of time here. We could stay only 15 minutes.
Lesley Stahl: There’s this number I’ve been seeing, 566.
Lake Barrett: Right. That’s telling you the radiation level that we’re in. It’s fairly high here. That’s why we’re gonna be here a short time.
Lesley Stahl: How close are you and I, right this minute, to the core?
Lake Barrett: The– the melted cores are about 70 feet that way.
Lesley Stahl: Seventy from here–
Lake Barrett: From here.
Lesley Stahl: –is the melted core?
Lake Barrett: Correct, that’s right over in here. We don’t know quite where other than it fell down into the floor.
Lesley Stahl: So if you sent a worker in right now to find it, how long would they survive?
Lake Barrett: No one is gonna send a worker in there because they’d be overexposed in just a matter of seconds.
Enter the robots.
Lesley Stahl: This is the robot research center.
Dr. Kuniaki Kawabata: Yes. This is for remote control technology development.
In 2016, the Japanese government opened this $100 million research center near the plant where a new generation of robots is being developed by teams of engineers and scientists from the nation’s top universities and tech companies………
But even with all the high-tech training and know-how, the robots have run into problems. For the early models, it was the intense levels of radiation – that fried their electronics and cameras.
Lake Barrett: Their lifetime was hours. We hoped it would be days, but it was for hours………
when Scorpion went inside, it hit some debris and got stuck after traveling less than 10 feet. ……
Finally, in 2017, the swimming robot [Little Sunfish] made its foray into the heart of the reactor. ………. It beamed back images reveali ng clumps of debris, fuel rods, half-destroyed equipment and murky glimpses of what looks like solidified lava — the first signs, TEPCO officials say, of the missing fuel.
Lake Barrett: These robotic steps so far have been significant steps. But it is only a small step on a very, very long journey.
Lesley Stahl: This is gonna take you said decades with an “S.” How many decades?
Lake Barrett: We don’t know for sure. The goal here is 40– 30– 40 years. You know, I personally think it may be even 50– 60, but it’s–
Lesley Stahl: Oh, maybe longer………. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robots-come-to-the-rescue-after-fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-disaster-60-minutes-2019-07-28/
Low dose ionising radiation gives cancer cells a head start
 Cancer-capable cells given ‘advantage’ by low doses of radiation, Sanger Institute study shows, Cambridge Independent , By Paul Brackley paul.brackley@iliffemedia.co.uk, 28 July 2019
Cells capable of becoming cancerous are given a competitive advantage over normal cells in healthy tissues by low doses of radiation equivalent to three CT scans, scientists have found.
The researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and University of Cambridge studied the effects of low doses of radiation in the oesophagus of mice. They found it increased the number of cells with mutations in p53, a genetic change associated with cancer. Giving the mice an antioxidant before radiation promoted the growth of healthy cells, however, which outcompeted and replaced the p53 mutant cells. The study, published in Cell Stem Cell, recommends that the risk should be considered when assessing radiation safety and also suggests the potential of creating non-toxic preventative measures to cut the risk of developing cancer by helping our healthy cells to eradicate cancer-capable ones. Dr David Fernandez-Antoran, first author from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “Our bodies are the set of ‘Game of Clones’ – a continuous battle for space between normal and mutant cells. We show that even low doses of radiation, similar to three CT scans’ worth, can weigh the odds in favour of cancer-capable mutant cells. We’ve uncovered an additional potential cancer risk as a result of radiation that needs to be recognised.”… Other effects of exposure to low levels of radiation have remained hidden until now, meaning that assessing the associated risk has been difficult. …. Dr Kasumi Murai, an author from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said it is not know if the antioxidant therapy would work in other tissues, or even have the reverse effect, adding: “What we do know is that long term use of antioxidants alone is not effective in preventing cancer in people, according to other studies.”https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/cancer-capable-cells-given-advantage-by-low-doses-of-radiation-sanger-institute-study-shows-9077390/ |
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(Officially no climate change in Australia) but Queensland towns are running out of water
Queensland towns face million-dollar water-carting bills if rain stays away, Brisbane Times, By Tony Moore
More than 65 per cent of Queensland, including Ipswich, Lockyer Valley and Scenic Rim councils on Brisbane’s doorstep, is drought-declared.
The worst case is Stanthorpe, one of Queensland’s premier tourism and wine regions, in the Southern Downs Regional Council area.
Southern Downs mayor Tracy Dobie said Stanthorpe was on track to run out of water by Christmas, leaving ratepayers with a hefty bill to cart water from Warwick. “We are estimating something between half a million dollars to a million dollars per month just to cart water,” she said.
“That is a sizeable chunk for a regional council with 19,000 ratepayers and an annual budget of $70 million.”
Warwick would run out of water by December 2020 if it did not receive significant rainfall over summer, Cr Dobie said.
“The Warwick situation is worse than Stanthorpe,” she said.
“The only way we can do it, if it doesn’t rain, is establishing new bores and pumping.” In the Toowoomba Regional Council area, water is being carted to Cecil Downs, while water has also been carted to Hodgson Vale, Cambooya and Clifton as bores run dry.
Ipswich and Lockyer Valley councils are close to carting water to some regional areas, but at this stage are meeting water demand from dam supplies.
There are as yet no water restrictions on south-east Queensland homes.
Over the Great Dividing Range, regions face extreme water restrictions.
Stanthorpe and Warwick residents already face “extreme-level” water restrictions of 120 litres per person a day, the same as Brisbane during the drought of 2008. Cr Dobie said the cost of carting water was significant for smaller councils.
“We have these councils west of the Great Dividing Range and in New South Wales that have really small rate bases and don’t have the money to build their own infrastructure,” she said.
(Officially no climate change in Australia) but Norther Territory towns are running out ofvwater
NT rural residents face spending thousands to truck in water if 
bores run dry, ABC News, By Sowaibah Hanifie 29 July 19, With groundwater levels critically low and the wet season yet to begin, some rural Northern Territory residents fear they may have to pay thousands of dollars to truck in water for their homes.
Many bores connected to the Berry Springs and Howard Springs groundwater systems have been flagged as critical and could run dry as soon as October due to the driest Territory wet season in decades.
Eddie and Sheryl Kendall’s Berry Springs bamboo business could collapse if their bore runs dry.
“The plants, we’d just have to let them die,” Mrs Kendall said.
“That wouldn’t be very good, but if you have to do it, you have to do it.”
Mr Kendall said while their bore was not critically low yet, they were being conservative with their water use, meaning their plants were not getting the water they needed to thrive.
In the community of Southport, Progress Association president Barry Whalan said he would be forced to pay $400 per week if his community, which has a critically low bore, ran dry before the wet season in December……..
Humpty Doo resident Shannon Griffiths is living near the site of a proposed $2 billion, 4,000-property development in Noonamah Ridge, which would be completed over 30 years.
Mr Griffiths said while he understood the Government wanted to increase the Territory’s population, he was concerned more rural development would put his groundwater at risk.
“How are they going to monitor people running their bores or irrigating their yards at night, which a lot of people do,” he said…..
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-29/rural-water-bores-running-dry-northern-territory/11354680
Schott says Feds “can’t get their act together” on climate, so states will step up — RenewEconomy
ESB chair tells Clean Energy Summit the energy transition is being led by state governments, as NSW threatens to go it alone if federal government does not get its act together. The post Schott says Feds “can’t get their act together” on climate, so states will step up appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Schott says Feds “can’t get their act together” on climate, so states will step up — RenewEconomy
Solar dominates day-time markets, lifting share and pushing down prices — RenewEconomy
Solar boom that began in 2016 is having marked impact on wholesale prices, even in winter, and may rethink investment decisions. The post Solar dominates day-time markets, lifting share and pushing down prices appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Solar dominates day-time markets, lifting share and pushing down prices — RenewEconomy
CEFC looks to energy storage, grid stability, after record spend on renewables — RenewEconomy
Clean Energy Finance Corp tipped record $1.3bn into renewable energy in FY19, says focus in 2019-20 will be on “important new frontier” of storage and grid stability. The post CEFC looks to energy storage, grid stability, after record spend on renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via CEFC looks to energy storage, grid stability, after record spend on renewables — RenewEconomy
July 29 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “Edmunds: Tesla Model 3 Is The “Ultimate Driving Machine”” • Edmunds makes a ton of money funneling internet surfers to local auto dealers to buy gasmobiles. So, for Edmunds staff to bash a conventional auto company by saying that its popular tagline fits Tesla better is … well … sort of shocking. But […]
Victoria drafts new guidelines to smooth way for solar farms — RenewEconomy
Victorian Labor flags changes to streamline development process for large-scale solar farms, while South Australia flags updated rules for both big wind and solar. The post Victoria drafts new guidelines to smooth way for solar farms appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Victoria drafts new guidelines to smooth way for solar farms — RenewEconomy
Antinuclear 