Submission of Senate inquiry into Australia’s transition to a green energy superpower – Are you satisfied with that?

David Archibald

Life in Australia has become a theater of the absurd. One of the more absurd views is that Australia will become a ‘green energy superpower’, even to the point of holding a Senate investigation go there. In submitting the inquiry, I tried to point out as gently as possible that the laws of physics and economics would not allow that:

“Senators should know that energy from solar panels and wind turbines is cheap only because solar panels and wind turbines are made with energy from fossil fuels, mainly coal. rock. Solar panels made in China that use electric power cost $0.04/kWh. Under ideal conditions in the Western Australian desert, those same panels produce electricity at the same price as electricity produced from a diesel generator at $0.21/kWh.

If you use energy from solar panels to make more solar panels, then the electricity cost from the second generation of solar panels will be around $1.00/kWh. The same is true for wind turbines. If you try to continue the process of replacing solar panels and wind turbines as they age with solar panels and wind turbines made from the energy produced from the replaced ones , the costs will become infinite and the economy will collapse. The situation is simple, and clear.

As such solar panels and wind turbines are not renewable or sustainable. The solar panels and wind turbines that we have installed in Australia at the moment are the product of cheap coal power.

One day coal will run out and it would be wise to prepare for that day. The only source of energy that can replace coal and sustain a high level of civilization is nuclear. The sooner we prepare for that day, the safer we are as a nation and a civilization.

Towards that nuclear future, Australia should avoid the trap of adopting the currently dominant nuclear technology of U-burning light water reactors.²³⁵. That technology is inherently wasteful, dangerous, and leaves a huge legacy of waste.

It is wasteful because it burns only a small fraction of the total uranium. It is dangerous because it combines water, zirconium and heat of decomposition in the reaction vessel. The waste legacy is due to the fact that, by the time the rods are pulled during each refueling cycle, half the energy comes from the fission of plutonium and the higher actinides. These will remain radioactive for millions of years unless recycled.

Making light water reactors larger for economies of scale would increase the flow of decomposition heat per unit area of ​​the reactor core surface and make the reactor less safe. . Going the other way towards small modular reactors is not a solution as they increase the capital cost per MW produced and still have the waste problem.

The only solution to Australia’s long-term coal depletion problem is plutonium-generating reactor technology. This technology is inherently safe because it uses no water in the reactor vessel, will use our entire uranium supply, and leaves no waste. Plutonium created will have Pu²⁴⁰ The content is too high to be used in weapons. As such the technology is not a common threat.

There is a plutonium-breeding reactor technology from GE-Hitachi called Prism that is ready for commercialization. Australia should start installing the Prism reactor as soon as possible.

The energy from those reactors will be used to generate hydrogen, which in turn will be used to hydrogenate the biomass in the Bergius process. Capacity at $0.05/kWh produces hydrogen at $7.00/kg. Such produced synthetic diesel would provide a concentrated source of energy for transportation, mining and agriculture. The latter two industries are particularly problematic regarding electrification, and synthetic diesel, generated by nuclear power, is the solution.

Senators should also know that no matter how much energy Australia produces, it has nothing to do with climate. The world has not warmed in the past 44 years, and there is no physical sign that the world is warming from this point on. Many atmospheric models that had predicted significant warming failed and were therefore discredited.

In short, pursuing a ‘green energy’ future is physically and economically impossible. Spending Australian capital in pursuit of that illusion will only end in tears. It was the latter-day version of the Children’s Crusade, bringing death and destruction to those who pursued it.

Understanding the physics and chemistry of what can generate the energy that sustains civilization to such a high degree means we have no choice – that is, a sodium-cooled plutonium-generating reactor. or nothing at all. Our only choice is how much pain we want to endure before deciding on the right path.”

David Archibald is the author of Cancer garden in Australia.

GE-Hitachi . Prism Reactor