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maharetr and I drove North to Gingin1 utterly failing to pick up food on the way and subsisting on my emergency stock of muesli bars. As I haven't quite unpacked the car from the Rogaine and some paddling trips we had food, water, a 4-man tent, some paddling gear and a croquet set. Ah luxury.
I am still very firmly opposed to the use of nuclear power stations, I am opposed because even if the Uranium supplies last us 1,00 years, it's STILL non-renewable and creates highly dangerous byproducts. It's exactly what we are already doing with the fossil fuels. We don't need to improve our safety technology, we need to rethink our entire approach. On that note: The Wilderness Society has a petition going.
I would like to know more about the Human Development Index and what the environmental footprint of a wind farm really is.
1Nearly, we failed to find it in the dark - how do you lose a small town you may ask? Easily!
2I have no idea how recent this info is and I suspect it of being out of date.
maharetr and I drove North to Gingin1 utterly failing to pick up food on the way and subsisting on my emergency stock of muesli bars. As I haven't quite unpacked the car from the Rogaine and some paddling trips we had food, water, a 4-man tent, some paddling gear and a croquet set. Ah luxury.The initial talk was delivered by Principal Research Engineer John Jacob and covered the science behind nuclear energy. John was a gifted science presenter and his lecture sat right on the edge of too much/just enough science; he was funny, interesting, relevant and educational.
"You can combine hydrogen (a flammable gas) and oxygen (a breathable gas) and what do you get? Water; a non flammable liquid that you can't breath."
He also talked lot about the Chart of Nuclides (contains all the possible isotopes of the elements and their stability) which makes talking about nuclear fission a lot easier. I finally understand how you get from unrefined Uranium to weapons grade Plutonium. This amuses me as my disappointment with the new Cadbury Drinking chocolate is such that I can easily imagine making weapons grade cocoa solids in a secret backyard laboratory.
We also heard two panellists speak about their views on nuclear energy. Erica Smyth Non-Executive Chairman of Nova Energy and of Azumah Resources spoke about the need for clean, cheap energy to improve living conditions in companies we wish to sell Uranium to. Dr Bruce Hartley spoke about safety, about managing nuclear energy facilities and pointed out that the US already gets approximately 20-25% of it's energy from nuclear power stations2 and made the point that nuclear power is already happening - now we have to deal with it. I was very sorry to hear that Robin Chapple from the WA Greens was scheduled to speak but was not present for reasons unknown - we essentially had two fence-sitters and one pro-nuclear energy speakers for the panel and this led to an interesting spate of technical questions and very little discussion on whether nuclear power is a good idea.
I'm not all that sad it turned out that way - I learned a lot about the technical and science background to nuclear power generation and have much to think about.
"You can combine hydrogen (a flammable gas) and oxygen (a breathable gas) and what do you get? Water; a non flammable liquid that you can't breath."
He also talked lot about the Chart of Nuclides (contains all the possible isotopes of the elements and their stability) which makes talking about nuclear fission a lot easier. I finally understand how you get from unrefined Uranium to weapons grade Plutonium. This amuses me as my disappointment with the new Cadbury Drinking chocolate is such that I can easily imagine making weapons grade cocoa solids in a secret backyard laboratory.
We also heard two panellists speak about their views on nuclear energy. Erica Smyth Non-Executive Chairman of Nova Energy and of Azumah Resources spoke about the need for clean, cheap energy to improve living conditions in companies we wish to sell Uranium to. Dr Bruce Hartley spoke about safety, about managing nuclear energy facilities and pointed out that the US already gets approximately 20-25% of it's energy from nuclear power stations2 and made the point that nuclear power is already happening - now we have to deal with it. I was very sorry to hear that Robin Chapple from the WA Greens was scheduled to speak but was not present for reasons unknown - we essentially had two fence-sitters and one pro-nuclear energy speakers for the panel and this led to an interesting spate of technical questions and very little discussion on whether nuclear power is a good idea.
I'm not all that sad it turned out that way - I learned a lot about the technical and science background to nuclear power generation and have much to think about.
I am still very firmly opposed to the use of nuclear power stations, I am opposed because even if the Uranium supplies last us 1,00 years, it's STILL non-renewable and creates highly dangerous byproducts. It's exactly what we are already doing with the fossil fuels. We don't need to improve our safety technology, we need to rethink our entire approach. On that note: The Wilderness Society has a petition going.
I would like to know more about the Human Development Index and what the environmental footprint of a wind farm really is.
1Nearly, we failed to find it in the dark - how do you lose a small town you may ask? Easily!
2I have no idea how recent this info is and I suspect it of being out of date.
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