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Originally posted by Andrew Walker
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I can certainly vouch for what I think you’re implying in your last sentence. I’m a bit slow today as I’m still trying to adjust back into things after a week’s break away. -
Fellow Lefties,
The Orange Fiberache appears to have finally admitted the truth: he cannot guarantee lower grocery prices; in fact, he "can't guarantee anything, even tomorrow." Now that he has appointed a cabinet full of billionaires, many members of the lower and middle classes will discover how much his administration cares about them. It will be on the same level that my community here in Bellevue Hill gives a rats about anyone further out than Edgecliff.
Bring on the circus come January 2025.....with this clown at the helm there will be plenty of laughs and entertainment ( if youre not a US citizen anyway)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAIsTmOwy_IComment
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At the moment I’m trying to forget about the orange messiah. With a bit of luck it was all a very bad dream .. nightmare. Well I can pretend for a bit longer.Originally posted by Random Rooster View PostComment
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Despite Duttons continuous stuffing up in his presentation of how Australia will benefit from nuclear energy, I personally believe that the idea is sound and has merit.
Dutton said a reactor’s waste would fill a Coke can. Try 27,000 of them
Australia would confront an unprecedented security and environmental task under the opposition’s nuclear energy plan, which would generate 880 barrels full of highly radioactive spent fuel each year and require secure storage for hundreds of thousands of years.
Last week, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton revealed the details of his long-awaited energy policy, which would build 14 gigawatts of nuclear energy generation by 2050 to back up renewable power without generating greenhouse gas emissions.
But Australia has never had to confront the challenge of storing the toxic byproducts of nuclear power generation, a thorny political issue in some countries with reactors.
Dutton said in June that the waste produced each year by a 450-megawatt reactor, far smaller than a typical generation unit, would be minimal. “If you look at a 450-megawatt reactor, it produces waste equivalent to the size of a can of Coke each year,” he said.
Dutton was referring to small modular reactors, which are not yet in commercial production. Experts said his calculation was inaccurate and that the reactors in development are expected to produce at least several tonnes of radioactive waste per year.
A typical large-scale nuclear reactor, with a 1-gigawatt capacity, usually generates 30 tonnes of spent fuel a year, according to the World Nuclear Association. This nuclear waste would fill 10 cubic metres, or 10,000 litres.
The opposition claims it would have its first nuclear reactor up and running by 2037, and the entire fleet – on up to seven sites with multiple reactors on each – built before 2050.
When all reactors are operating, the 14 gigawatts of nuclear capacity would produce 140 cubic metres, or 140,000 litres, of waste a year.
This would fill 880 oil barrels, each holding 159 litres.
The Coalition, which was contacted for comment, plans to store nuclear power waste at the same facility that will store it for Australia’s planned nuclear submarines under the AUKUS program. “The prime minister signed up to the nuclear submarines and therefore sent a very clear message to Australians that there are no safety concerns about the latest technology,” Dutton said last Friday.
Opposition energy spokesman Ted O’Brien said on Thursday that nuclear energy was the world’s safest form of power generation.
“Thirty-two nations safely manage nuclear power plants today and 50 more are looking at introducing nuclear for the first time,” O’Brien said in a statement.
The spent fuel from a nuclear reactor contains highly radioactive material. Exposure to high levels of radiation can cause skin and blood damage, cataracts, infertility, birth defects and cancer, according to the World Health Organisation.
According to the World Nuclear Association, nuclear waste is stored safely around the world and has not caused harm to human health.
The opposition has stated their reactors have an 80-year lifespan, which means they will generate 70,400 barrels over their lifetime.
Using Dutton’s can metric, the 140 cubic metres of spent fuel each year would fit into 373,333 cans, or almost 27,000 cans per reactor.
Over 80 years, Dutton’s fleet of reactors would generate 29,866,640 cans full of waste – more than 2.1 million cans per reactor.
Australia generates intermediate-level nuclear waste, which can include used clothing and equipment from nuclear facilities.
Each year, about 40 cubic metres of low-level waste and 5 cubic metres of intermediate-level radioactive waste are generated by Australia’s Lucas Heights nuclear facility outside Sydney, which creates research and medical products. The waste is stored onsite.
Australia would also generate considerable low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste if it had a fleet of 14 reactors, on top of the millions of barrels worth of spent nuclear fuel.
Most countries with nuclear reactors permanently store spent fuel and other nuclear waste in secure facilities, often onsite at power plants. Some spent fuel can also be reprocessed for use again in reactors.
Australia has committed to operate nuclear submarines under the AUKUS pact, and to develop by 2050 a permanent storage facility for the waste generated from their reactors, to be located somewhere in the country on Defence land. Many have speculated the most likely site is Woomera in South Australia.
The Albanese government last year abandoned plans for a facility to take medical waste at Kimba in rural South Australia due to community opposition.
Renewable energy also has waste issues.
In 2023, Australia had 110 operational wind farms, of which 31 were more than 15 years old, according to the Clean Energy Council.
An estimated 15,000 tonnes of waste from wind turbine blades will be created in Australia by 2034, and up to 4000 tonnes a year. The Clean Energy Council said at least 85 per cent of a wind turbine can be recycled.
A report by the University of NSW Australian Centre of Advanced Photovoltaics forecast the total volume of disused solar panels would reach 1 million tonnes by 2035.
About 95 per cent of a solar panel can be recycled. However, there is not yet a large-scale recycling industry in place to handle the industry’s growing waste.
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Trump just keeps winning.
Fani Willis and her lying 'mate' have just been dumped on their asses.1985: 1 try vs Parramatta, 1 try vs Manly, 1 try vs Wests, 2 tries vs Souffs
1986: 2 tries vs Illawarra, 1 try vs Balmain, 2 tries vs Norths.Comment
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Nothing brings greater satisfaction to the ultra-wealthy than leveraging their financial power to win over and persuade those who stand to lose the most by placing their trust in them.
There's a few Chookpen members who could be the white guy on the right!
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What Bernie Sanders is saying is true. The only thing i disagree with is when he says this isn't what Americans voted for eg Musk flexing his financial muscle for political gain. Trump said he would deliver change and in most casees he was upfront on how he would deliver it. He won the election fair and square and these changes are what the American people voted for and wanted. So while im critical of Trump the person i'm not critical of the political system that has put him back in the Oval Office.Originally posted by A Country Member View Post
We have already seen billionaires increase their wealth tenfold after the election...and that's before they all get their massive tax breaks. There's only so much of the "pie" to go around in a country riddled with 37 million dollars of debt. Someone is going to miss out....and it wont be Musk, Bezos and Co!!!Last edited by Random Rooster; 12-23-2024, 04:55 PM.Comment
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My apologies for being pedantic but 37 trillion dollars of debt.Originally posted by Random Rooster View Post
Regardless, my very best wishes to yourself and your family for the festive season.
"Do you expect me to talk"? "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die".Comment
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It amazes me that so much of our media devotes unprecedented time to American politics and it seems that the dumbest among us are the largest audience. Bernie's warnings are apt but but would likely not be understood by the average citizen, especially those who believe that a cabal of billionaires has the common man's best interests at heart. A few nights ago one of the vacuous blowhards on Sky, when delivering the usual anti ALP rant, apologised to the audience for using big "economic" words and implored them not to turn off - duh!!
So getting back to more local issues, it has occurred to me that the current cost of living "crisis" and the wages claims that have eventuated, might be directly linked to Tradies. I have been without internet for 6 months (don't ask) and trying to complete my new build in the Southern Highlands so hiring tradies has been difficult, mostly I've hired on vague recommendations but invariably the work has been shoddy and has cost big dollars. Standard is $1000 a day cash (even the GST "deal" has now gone!) Some jobs work out at $2000 a day just for the labour (cash again) - $10K a week tax free. Howard's GST didn't eliminate black money, it made it worse and probably by design.
Now I reckon that well educated professional people like Government psychiatrists, who would be paid quite well comparably, have more than likely had a tradie in in recent times. 2K a day would be a shock to them because here are guys with little trade talent ranking them outta sight. Same applies to anyone else who has had work done.
The other day a builder dropped by, glanced a newly built garden wall and said, "Looks good, do it yourself?" 4 metres long, it cost $2k cash! I had already dobbed the "brickie"in to the ATO which is what I do with all who insist on cash payment. It's what we should all be doing. These greedy slip shod "skilled" workers, 'Howard's Battlers", are at the forefront of the Libs' outer suburban election strategy so it can only get worse.Last edited by Paddo Colt 61; 01-28-2025, 11:46 AM.Comment
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Wow I wasted all those hours and weeks studying Macro and Micro Economics at Uni - Cost of living crisis's are linked to those "greedy/slip shod" tradies and not because of Inflation i,e wages growth , high employment rates, increase in household incomes and consumer spending , supply and demand factors ( increase in the price of good and services) etc
No need to change interest rates to reduce spending to control Inflation. - Just have a cap for what tradies can charge for any work they undertake - minimum wage of $25.20 per hour as the starting point.
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Mr O'Reilly could have possibly built you a wall in the traditional fashion.
Fawlty Towers "Phoning Mr O'Reilly to cement the bricks together"
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Tradies are the backbone of the country or the root of all evil depending on who you believe ?!. I'm a recently retired tradie and have worked hard and paid my tax's since 1980. That makes me a rip offing arsehole to some on here. I take extreme insult from that ! Up the Chooks !Originally posted by King Salvo View PostComment
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Me too Salvo. I must have missed the unit on tradies causing the cost of living crisis. I don’t think Paddo realises there are 4 means of production and labour is only one of them.Originally posted by King Salvo View PostComment
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Tradies do a great job crab. Some of us do really appreciate you.Originally posted by Crab View PostComment
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