FREE: The Curious Country - eBook about The Things That Matter to Us Living in Australia

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  jv on 07/03/2014 - 20:37

  -4

  about the things that matter to us.

  who cares what matters to Americans…

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    tonester on 07/03/2014 - 22:03

    -1

    what about canadians, mexicans, brazilians, amongst others from the americas? :)

    note that us=them (think about it)

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      [Deactivated] on 07/03/2014 - 22:13

      jv probably lives in the same area where he/she was born in

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    IVI on 08/03/2014 - 06:21

    Didn't we waste a -lot- of money & reduce the health of too many fine Aussies, ie, by sending military people & costly military gear to places like Iraq & Afghanistan…?

    Someone in AU must have cared what matter[ed] to USA's gov't, or - more likely - was overly influenced by intense pressure to put USA's interests before AU's. In any case, we're worse for having done it.

    Q.E.D.

    (Norway did that, too, & there's a multi-part doco on their involvement in such fiascos, that I wish you could view.)

    Meanwhile, neutral Sweden (which enjoys the benefit of a high percentage of women in government, at all levels) did not; thus, saving heaps.

    When will we begin to follow more peaceful nations?

    (Even I learned that doing anything like that in Afghanistan would be a mistake, jusy from reports about Russia's earlier military spending there.)

    AU needs more strong women in gov't & parliament… & less testosterone, IMO. ;-)

    Then, we might not make such -costly- mistakes, in future, when we do…

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  chickentaste on 07/03/2014 - 23:00

  I see what you did there. Not sure everyone else did though..

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  IVI on 08/03/2014 - 05:53

  NOT too much curiosity was permitted in Energy, IMO, in this "would-be-forever-an-exporter-of-Uranium" country:

  Ie, only a few words got into "A Curious Country" about Energy from Thorium (ie, Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors LFTRs):

  "Nuclear fission, an abundant and low-carbon energy source, has an enormous & proven potential to supply reliable baseload electricity and displace coal or gas power plants directly.

  Yet the prospect of nuclear energy concerns many people who worry about sustainability, spent-fuel disposal and radiation release from accidents.

  Innovative new designs like the integral fast reactor and

  • Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor

  technologies (see: 311 megawatt PRISM module, right) could, if commercialised, avoid or heavily mitigate these hazards, by incorporating passive safety with inherent self-protection, and by recycling nuclear waste to generate zero-carbon electricity.

  However, no reactor can be made perfectly safe, and so, as is the case with technologies such as cars, planes, food supply, electricity & medicine, society must tolerate some level of risk."

  (At least LFTRs (which really deserve a paragraph or even a book of their own) got that brief, if subtle, mention, despite AU's vested interests in Uranium exports.)

  In an hour-long talk to the old "Nuclear 1.0" industry's members, on the topic of:

  • "The Future of Nuclear Technology - Post-Fukushima"

  a [nervous-sounding] ex-President NEVER once mentioned Thorium, Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) or Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR):

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ_7-BNgBew

  Instead, he listed many applications of nukes or their radioactive products, & predicted an up-turn in the industry, without mentioning
  the pivot to "Nuclear 2.0" LFTRs we see ahead.

  Meanwhile, in Japan (where nukes remain Off, since Fukushima), plans to expedite implementation of safe "Nuclear 2.0" Thorium LFTRs are being ramped-up, with estimates of 2020 mentioned as complete-dates for working reactors. We hear hints of regulatory flexibility, in Japan, that may facilitate the work towards safe LFTRs.

  Hopefully, AU will open its eyes to safe & cheap nuclear energy, ie, after LFTRs become re-proven & improved, in Japan, China or India.

  That AU has "NO" nuclear regulatory framework might actually enable us to construct one that is more LFTR-friendly than, say, USA's is today. (Don't tell me we've already followed (then) weapons-crazed yanks into a Plutonium-producing regulatory maze - that could hold AU back, even when a safer, more efficient & all-in-one solution (ie, LFTRs) beckons! :-/

  (There was a reason for BHP-Biliton's [2009] decision NOT to double Roxby Downs' size, & we think it was in the many strong calls for:

  • Energy from Thorium, eg, Sorensen's TED-talk:

  http://www.ted.com/talks/kirk_sorensen_thorium_an_alternativ…

  & international conferences (TEAC's & ThEC's) - most recently (ThEC13) at CERN, in Geneva - October, 2013.

  So, any Aussies going to the 2014 Chicago meet?