nuclear fusion, the magic bullet?

**Mick_Marsh** · 1st January 2014, 12:00 PM

Originally Posted by Pinelli

I do like this idea, but it's really a lot more complex than it sounds. Storage can be done in a number of ways such as hydroelectric dams, hydrogen storage (from electrolysis) and so on, but the distribution can be difficult to manage. As it is, distribution networks are having to be upgraded to handle large scale installation of domestic solar systems. It's the economics here that would need to be carefully investigated, versus the economics of nuclear power, which is also marginal while coal is so cheap.
I'm also not sure that Australia is geologically active enough for geothermal to provide widespread base load. Happy to be proven otherwise, though, if it has been investigated!

From a CSIRO report.
"Australia has some of the best resources of hot rocks in the world"

There are a few already operating at Iniminka and Birdsville (I think). Yes, they are test sites.
The proposed geothermal power station in eastern Victoria would utilise existing distribution infrastructure.

Yes, local solar and wind generation will require upgrades to the local distribution network but I'm not talking about solar panels on domestic roofs. I'm talking solar power generation plants like the molten salt power plants. Great to run the summer airconditioners.

**Pinelli** · 1st January 2014, 01:56 PM

Yes, Birdsville definitely does. One of the first three places in the world to have electric street lighting. From memory, London, New York and Birdsville

Thanks for the CSIRO link, I'll read that tonight. Geothermal is a great option if it's in the right spot and can supply enough.

**Hall** · 1st January 2014, 03:06 PM

Thorium reactor. We have the biggest supply of the stuff. Is a lot safer than uranium reactors as it has a way shorter span. Down side is it is tricky to get a reaction going, hence why it was not used as a weapon, and you need to keep feeding the reactor. Up side of keeping the reactor going is it`s main diet of choice once the reaction is started is waste from other uranium reactors. At the moment it is used in, of all things, mantels for gas lanterns.
Cheers Hall

**Mick_Marsh** · 1st January 2014, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by Hall

Thorium reactor. We have the biggest supply of the stuff. Is a lot safer than uranium reactors as it has a way shorter span. Down side is it is tricky to get a reaction going, hence why it was not used as a weapon, and you need to keep feeding the reactor. Up side of keeping the reactor going is it`s main diet of choice once the reaction is started is waste from other uranium reactors. At the moment it is used in, of all things, mantels for gas lanterns.
Cheers Hall

Still has a waste problem. Where will that waste be put? Your backyard? Not mine.

**Hall** · 1st January 2014, 06:46 PM

Still has a waste problem. Where will that waste be put? Your backyard? Not mine.

In comparison to uranium waste a short hundred years and it is more stable. From what I have read and understood thorium is a lot less radioactive than uranium.
Cheers Hall

**bob10** · 1st January 2014, 07:11 PM

Some years ago, a mate of mine worked on a drilling rig in SW Qld, drilling for a mob experimenting with the hot rock technology. He said they thought it was feasible, just a few hiccups to be sorted. Don't know what eventually happened, Bob

Geothermal energy: hot fractured rocks | CSIRO

**PeterM** · 2nd January 2014, 11:48 AM

There isn't a successful geothermal setup going yet, despite large sums of government and investor money getting thrown that way.

Fusion reactors have been made to work in a very small scale (laboratory) but the leap to make a commercial sized one is rather significant.

sheerluck · 2nd January 2014, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by PeterM

There isn't a successful geothermal setup going yet, despite large sums of government and investor money getting thrown that way.......

Not in Australia, but plenty of examples from around the world. In Iceland, they get something like 30% of their power from Geothermal plants. Even the Kiwis can manage it.

**Mick_Marsh** · 2nd January 2014, 12:23 PM

Originally Posted by PeterM

There isn't a successful geothermal setup going yet, despite large sums of government and investor money getting thrown that way.

In Australia. Plenty successful ones around the world and New Zealand.

Originally Posted by PeterM

Fusion reactors have been made to work in a very small scale (laboratory) but the leap to make a commercial sized one is rather significant.

Yep. Fusion reactors are a long way off.

**PeterM** · 3rd January 2014, 10:13 AM

Since we were talking about Australia, I didn't feel the need to prefix the comment to restrict it to Australia but there you go.

The geology of places is unique around the world so the theory is the only aspect that is transferable. The actual method is what they can't get right here. If I remember correctly the sub-terranean pipework isn't surviving and that's rather important in getting the system to function.

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