Monday Morning Muons #2

[QuarkingMad]

Not much popped up on my radar last week, buried in work and looking after a sick dog.

I found a neat reproduction of the WHO-IAEA agreement that is touted as evidence of a WHO-IAEA conspiracy. Part 3 is this justification, but obviously missing the end of part 2:
atomicinsights.com/2011/03/george-monbiot-debates-helen-caldicott-who-says-he-is-lying.html#comment-114

Prof Brook and Geoff Russell wrote an op-ed about the power of one mine:
www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/olympic-dam-uranium-can-power-australia-four-times-over-closing-all-coal-mines/story-e6freabc-1226424788264

On the above, the Minister in SA's addition to those comments:
video.heraldsun.com.au/2255062343/SA-to-power-over-100-nuclear-plants

PRISM comes a step closer in the UK:
www.marklynas.org/2012/07/worlds-first-nuclear-waste-burning-prism-reactor-moves-a-step-closer-in-the-uk/

[anonposter]

Not to mention that the WHO has similarly worded agreements with basically every other UN and UN affiliated agency.

[QuarkingMad]

Forgot another one to add to the list. Neat graphical visualisation of Electricity generation costs from the DoE:

en.openei.org/apps/TCDB/#

Funnily enough that I discovered this from an anti-nuke activist who said nuclear is more expensive than renewables. I don't think they looked at the LCOE figures and focused on the max Overnight costs.

[David B. Benson]

Thermoelectric Material Is the Best at Converting Heat Waste to Electricity:
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120919135310.htm
This looks promising enough to begin application development. I assume that the first applications, if any, will be for stationary sources of high temperature but waste heat.

[anonposter]

Might even be enough to make ⁹⁰Sr RTGs a viable battery replacement.

Though I do note they didn't bother to mention where the heat for the thermoelectric materials Curiosity uses comes from.

[David B. Benson]

Anon --- Shhh...

[David B. Benson]

Asia Will Drive Future Demand for Fossil Fuels
www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=asia-will-drive-future-demand-for-fossil-fuels
This article fails to mention to great appetite for coal from Indonesia and Australia. It does point out that there is a good possibility of shale gas in Asia, which I suppose means mostly in China.

One of the analysts is quoted as stating Asian nations are far ahead of many others in both energy efficiency and the development of renewable pathways. I'll refrain from commenting about that quotation in this (Australian) forum.

[anonposter]

I'll just comment that they are actually building useful renewable energy, namely hydro, which we aren't building so they can be said to be ahead.

[David B. Benson]

Regulators petition for grid quality
www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Regulators_petition_for_grid_quality_0210121.html

Good grief! I strongly suspect that quite a bit of equipment, not just NPP safety gear, stops working properly at a voltage of only 95% of nominal.