Thread: Future of the Australian Electricity Market

This sand battery could be interesting:

The world's first sand-powered battery (msn.com)

Although touted as a commercial installation, it seems a little on the small side to me. If they can keep it hot in Finland, I don't think we would have much trouble here.

Regards
Paul

I couldn't see any info at all in that link Paul, apart from the pic, so I went looking.

How a sand battery could transform clean energy - BBC World Service - YouTube
(except he thinks they should be heated up from cheap power at night, rather than solar power, which is a bit odd)

And from the BBC:
How the world's first sand battery stores green power - BBC News - YouTube
(saying they use green energy)

And old mate Matt Ferrell for a deeper dive:

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

I couldn't see any info at all in that link Paul, apart from the pic, so I went looking.

Try clicking on the pic. I think it will take you through the slides.

Regards
Paul

Not wishing to be seen as unduly biased (actually everyone of us is biased) I thought I would include this "spin" on just how good the nukes are:

15 interesting facts you didn’t know about nuclear energy (msn.com)

Interesting. for example, as how forgetful they can be when they say there have only been two major accidents: Did they forget Three Mile Island ? It was on their own shores.

I would be interested to know who actually sponsored this article and indeed forum members own thoughts.

Regards
Paul

"if you follow the instructions to the letter, it merely explodes. Get anything wrong, and you're really in trouble" - Clive James

Clearly Three Mile Island doesn't count as a "major incident", and I seem to remember something going seriously awry at Windscale in the UK many years ago?

"I once absent-mindedly ordered Three Mile Island dressing in a restaurant and, with great presence of mind, they bought out Thousand Island dressing and a bottle of chilli sauce" - Terry Pratchett

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

"

Clearly Three Mile Island doesn't count as a "major incident", and I seem to remember something going seriously awry at Windscale in the UK many years ago?

Mr Brush.

Clearly that is the implication as it was not deemed a catastrophe. However, it was in a heavily populated area and this is the sobering thought I took from this incident, which we now know as "minor."

"Cleanup at TMI-2 started in August 1979 and officially ended in December 1993, with a total cost of about $1 billion (equivalent to $2 billion in 2022)."

and this

"TMI-1 was restarted in 1985, then retired in 2019 due to operating losses. Its decommissioning is expected to be complete in 2079 at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion"


Regards
Paul

PS: Call me skeptical, if you wish, but it could just be why nobody wants one in their backyard.

Very expensive to build, and exceedingly expensive to decommission. The future decommissioning costs would likely be multiples of those figures.

I don't see how large scale nuclear can ever compete with adding storage (battery/hydro) to renewable generation. There may still be a place for Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), but the technology has been "coming soon" for quite a while now.

The countries building miniature nuclear reactors - BBC Future

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Clearly Three Mile Island doesn't count as a "major incident", and I seem to remember something going seriously awry at Windscale in the UK many years ago?

While it is not a secret, it seems to be a little-known fact that there is a nuclear reactor in Lucas Heights, Sydney. It is not for production of electric power but has been there since 1958 producing medical isotopes and being used for research purposes.

Back in the late 1970's or early 80's, (a long time ago so I'm not sure of the year) a lot of military personnel in the Sydney area, particularly Transport drivers, were put on emergency standby in case they were needed to evacuate selected people (Read VIP's - politicians etc) fron a location in Sydney.

Because of my position in Defence at the time, I also became aware that there had been an "incident" at the Lucas Heights reactor that coincided with this. Join the dots ...

Originally Posted by doug3030

While it is not a secret, it seems to be a little-known fact that there is a nuclear reactor in Lucas Heights, Sydney. It is not for production of electric power but has been there since 1958 producing medical isotopes and being used for research purposes.

Back in the late 1970's or early 80's, (a long time ago so I'm not sure of the year) a lot of military personnel in the Sydney area, particularly Transport drivers, were put on emergency standby in case they were needed to evacuate selected people (Read VIP's - politicians etc) fron a location in Sydney.

Because of my position in Defence at the time, I also became aware that there had been an "incident" at the Lucas Heights reactor that coincided with this. Join the dots ...

Doug

Nominally the Lucas Heights reactor is 5MW, but as you said, it does not produce electricity. When it was first commissioned, my understanding is that there was very little housing around, but nowadays it is in the middle of suburbia and a constant source of complaint from the residents.

I suspect that most "incidents" are covered up to prevent the populace freaking out. Only the big ones that cannot be covered up become general knowledge. The safety people would point to the triangle of incidents.

Regards
Paul

Sorry Doug, that conjures up an image of Homer Simpson with a glowing green rod stuck to the back of his shirt........D'OH !

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Sorry Doug, that conjures up an image of Homer Simpson with a glowing green rod stuck to the back of his shirt........D'OH !

Well this would have happened around a decade before the Simpsons were a thing. Maybe the creators of the Simpsons based Homer's character on some unfortunate clumsy misfit who worked at Lucas Heights. I guess we will never know.

They have had their share of minor bungles in recent years, not just the earlier (and possibly more serious) incident you were referring to

Lucas Heights nuclear medical facility should be replaced owing to safety concerns – report | Sydney | The Guardian

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

... "TMI-1 was restarted in 1985, then retired in 2019 due to operating losses. Its decommissioning is expected to be complete in 2079 at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion" ...

Paul: I assume that that is a quote from a government agency. When did any government agency bring in a project on time and under budget? Frequently both get blown, sometimes spectacularly.

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

... Interesting. for example, as how forgetful they can be when they say there have only been two major accidents: Did they forget Three Mile Island ? It was on their own shores. ...

And there were also some incidents (plural) where they actually lost nuclear bombs.

Helpfully, the infallible Wikipedia has published a fairly comprehensive list of nuclear incidents - it is a little longer than I expected.
List of military nuclear accidents - Wikipedia