The South Australian Political Landscape

[stan]

Hey guys has Rankine quit?

[dedja]

Yep, maybe take a while for Jimmy to sober up before he posts again.

[stan]

With the disgrace that Familes SA is well I dont think there was another option really.

[Dogwatcher]

Her resignation seems interestingly timed for the same day as Abbott was garnering all the attention.

[stan]

Her resignation seems interestingly timed for the same day as Abbott was garnering all the attention.

Yes a good smoke screen. A state Labour MP quits under the cloud of the PM in trouble. No better cover.

[dedja]

@Psyber

The Govt has just announced a Royal Commission to look at the benefits or otherwise of a expanded nuclear industry.

A highly unusual move and I doubt whether anyone has attempted to use a Royal Commission in this way.

[bennymacca]

@Psyber

The Govt has just announced a Royal Commission to look at the benefits or otherwise of a expanded nuclear industry.

A highly unusual move and I doubt whether anyone has attempted to use a Royal Commission in this way.

Would be great if we could get a nuclear industry up in Australia. Maybe the royal commission is seen as trying to de-politicise it?

[dedja]

I hope you are correct but with Jay you never know.

[stan]

The scare campaign against Nuclear power should start anyday now. Regardless of facts Im sure a few greens can whip up some sheep.

[bennymacca]

The scare campaign against Nuclear power should start anyday now. Regardless of facts Im sure a few greens can whip up some sheep.

The funniest thing is, nuclear power would be one of the most environmentally friendly things we could do

[Psyber]

The scare campaign against Nuclear power should start anyday now. Regardless of facts Im sure a few greens can whip up some sheep.

I expect so - as recently as last year the Chairman of the Conservation was on a TV panel show stating that nuclear is not an option because the waste is unsafe for about 100,000 years.

Fact Check:
1. Modern fast breeder Uranium fission plants have serious radio-toxicity times down to 100-150 years.
2. Thorium fission plants reduce it further to 70-100 years, and Thorium waste is safe to release freely into the environment by about 500 years.
http://www.ensec.org/index.php?option=c ... Itemid=342

[Booney]

If we were to create a reactor and produce power, we could provide this state with a massive economic boost and potential income for, well, ever.

If we would find somewhere to dump/store other's waste, we could reduce our state debt to almost nothing overnight.

Do we, as people of this state, want to leave either of these as a legacy to our future generations?

The RC has some decent questions to answer, more moral and ethical than financial.

[Psyber]

I'm rather hopeful that the development of safe nuclear power and the safe storage in our remote stable regions could lead, in the long-term, to a better economy, and to electricity cheap enough to make converting our cars to Hydrogen fuel viable, and thus leave future generations with an environment more free of nasty by-products of motor fuel including particularly the highly carcinogenic vapours output by our present heavy reliance on diesel fuels.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-13/d ... ic/4068414

[Booney]

Storage requires geological stability and a constant source of water.

So, it must be coastal and does our SE not experience the odd tremor / rumble? So, I assume the likes of Ports Pirie and Augusta would be the most favorable?

Is this "remote" enough?

[bennymacca]

since when does storage require a source of water?

[Psyber]

since when does storage require a source of water?

Active fission plants have certainly required water readily available as coolant although there has been developed, more recently, liquid salt and liquid lead coolant technology. My understanding is that encasement in glass is sufficient for storage of waste, which is depleted material rather than fissionable fuel, and with modern reactors much more depleted than the waste of old designs.

PS from Wikipedia:

Vitrification

Long-term storage of radioactive waste requires the stabilization of the waste into a form which will neither react nor degrade for extended periods of time. One way to do this is through vitrification.[43] Currently at Sellafield the high-level waste (PUREX first cycle raffinate) is mixed with sugar and then calcined. Calcination involves passing the waste through a heated, rotating tube. The purposes of calcination are to evaporate the water from the waste, and de-nitrate the fission products to assist the stability of the glass produced.[44]

The 'calcine' generated is fed continuously into an induction heated furnace with fragmented glass.[45] The resulting glass is a new substance in which the waste products are bonded into the glass matrix when it solidifies. This product, as a melt, is poured into stainless steel cylindrical containers ("cylinders") in a batch process. When cooled, the fluid solidifies ("vitrifies") into the glass. Such glass, after being formed, is highly resistant to water.[46]

After filling a cylinder, a seal is welded onto the cylinder. The cylinder is then washed. After being inspected for external contamination, the steel cylinder is stored, usually in an underground repository. In this form, the waste products are expected to be immobilized for thousands of years.[47]

The glass inside a cylinder is usually a black glossy substance. All this work (in the United Kingdom) is done using hot cell systems. The sugar is added to control the ruthenium chemistry and to stop the formation of the volatile RuO4 containing radioactive ruthenium isotopes. In the West, the glass is normally a borosilicate glass (similar to Pyrex), while in the former Soviet bloc it is normal to use a phosphate glass.[48] The amount of fission products in the glass must be limited because some (palladium, the other Pt group metals, and tellurium) tend to form metallic phases which separate from the glass. Bulk vitrification uses electrodes to melt soil and wastes, which are then buried underground.[49] In Germany a vitrification plant is in use; this is treating the waste from a small demonstration reprocessing plant which has since been closed down.[44][50]

[mighty_tiger_79]

I heard on the radio that Port Adelaide would be a good site for it, along with Millicent and another joint I cant think of.

I think Port Adelaide would be a great location for it, somewhere near Queen St would be ideal!

[Booney]

since when does storage require a source of water?

Used nuclear fuel is in storage at the nation’s nuclear energy facilities. Most plants store used fuel in steel-lined, concrete pools filled with water, which acts as a natural barrier for radiation. The water also keeps the fuel cool while radiation decays. The water itself does not leave the used fuel pool.

This is done prior to longer term waste storage in most cases to stabilize the waste, other facilities store it in this manner longer term.

I'm certainly no expert, but I believe it is a very useful tool for short term storage and long term stabilization.

[Booney]

I heard on the radio that Port Adelaide would be a good site for it, along with Millicent and another joint I cant think of.

I think Port Adelaide would be a great location for it, somewhere near Queen St would be ideal!

I've got a big backyard, name your price and I'll consider it.

[mighty_tiger_79]

I heard on the radio that Port Adelaide would be a good site for it, along with Millicent and another joint I cant think of.

I think Port Adelaide would be a great location for it, somewhere near Queen St would be ideal!

I've got a big backyard, name your price and I'll consider it.