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Permalink Reply by Dr Caroline Wright on July 10, 2012 at 6:02pm

Well Norn I think this could stir up some lively debate. I will follow its progress with great interest.

Kind regards

Caroline

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Cox on July 10, 2012 at 8:27pm

Norm I have covered this topic before,As I have friends and relatives in the industry both here and overseas.

Fact France is the country where most of those who specialise in transport and removal and storage of Nuclear materials are based.

Natives from the areas in the Pacific claim that France was/Is using atolls around Muraroa where the French had their Nuclear tests during the last Century to dump the Worlds Nuclear Waste they have contracted to look after,After all where better to hide Radioactive waste than exactly where you expect to find Radioactive background readings.

The USA is Paranoid about "Dirty Bombs" etc and so controls it's waste itself for self preservation reasons,Europe has a great many Nuclear Facilities because of clean cheap energy they are capable of producing.

France however uses a system that whilst producing the best bang for the buck power production wise is the least safe method when it comes to reactor design and operation.

We in Australia have only one Nuclear Reactor facility that is used for Research as well as the production of Radioactive isotobes for Nuclear Medicine where it is used in the fight against cancers and in internal function scans.

In the case of Nuclear medicinal use the lowest half life elements are obviously most preferable and that is why Lucas Heights is so vital to Australians.

 

It has other uses such as Radiating Silicone that is used in Electronics chip production and the old Nuclear Reactor we had which was called HiFar and has since been replaced by an Argentinian piece of junk was unique in the World in having ports to take advantage of every wavelength of radioactivity known to man.

Lucas Heights or ANSTO as it is now known was used to irradiate the items such as spacesuits and moon rocks bought back from the moon to make sure nothing dangerous to Planet Earth was unleashed.

 

We also conducted Nuclear Tests in South Australia at Maralinga,and MonteBello Islands of the North West Coast during the Post World War Two era.

 

Nuclear has always had a bogyman image deserved ot otherwise ,But I think the long term negatives may well have been overplayed for Political Reasons during both the Past and present and no doubt into the future

I attach an Image of Hiroshima as it is Today for anyone can easily find an image of it as it was when it became famous or imfamous as to however people see it.

As well I attach the Original Reports regarding the Bombing of Hiroshima and the Post event analysis of the destruction written down by those who were actually there and involved as participants not just bystanders as these reports will show just how good Military Intelligence was and as well that Damage whilst considerable was not as great as most will have imagined or as widespread.

 

Hollywood and various political viewpoints have honestly exagerated details and scenarios for whatever agenda individuals and departments and politicians  may have held close to their hearts.

No you do not want to be on the receiving end of a Nuclear attack but it seems it was not quite as bad as made out,Dare I say it the Firebombing of Dresden was probably far worse to experience compared to Hiroshima.

Attachments:

• 45A7E098677F40F9B42038B9D8383242.jpeg, 283 KB
• hiroshima.pdf, 502 KB

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Permalink Reply by Norm Finkelstein on July 11, 2012 at 1:00pm

Caroline, I agree and expect a detailed and logical discussion on this very important issue.

Stephen, thanks for your detailed reply, I have never had any real objection to our Lucas Heights reactor and the essential work performed on site, in fact I have only held mild reservations regarding the establishment of a well engineered nuclear power plant within our own nation with the proviso that the location is geologically stable and any accident would be unlikely to contaminate critical ground water supplies such as the Great Artesian Basin.

Unfortunately reporting of incidents at nuclear facilities around the world is less than complete with only the major disasters making the front page, we have had disasters in the old USSR, USA, Japan with invisible but potentially deadly consequences, after the firestorm of Dresden the repair and rescue crews didnt have to contend with radioactive bodies or rubble the following day nor the genetic deformities and cancer that inevitably follow such an event.

The greatest problem with the construction of any nuclear facility be it power generation or waste storage is the compromise of safeguards and basic engineering standards due to corruption and the desire for maximum profit, its unfortunately part of human nature and an aspect that cant be overlooked.

If the waste posses no problem, let the countries producing the waste store that waste within their own boarders, in the event that we ever embrace nuclear power it would go without saying that we should also be responsible for the safe long term storage of our own radioactive waste material.     

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Cox on July 11, 2012 at 8:21pm

Norm you are so right and the worst offenders when it comes to Nuclear Industry safety are in fact (Surprise Surprise) the bloody UN regulatory body.

Best summed up as

The German teams are pissheads

The French teams are in a permanant Drugged Stupor

The Argentinians are both pissed and Drugged

The Yanks are just plain dumb

 

Thankfully those operating the Plants at the Coal face are like Pilots they have an instinct for self preservation,With the exception of those poor Brave bastards trying to fix Fukishima who will have absorbed more radiation than has ever been recorded and so will pioneer the Medical aspects of radioactive intense poisoning beyond any level seen before.

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Permalink Reply by Dr Caroline Wright on July 11, 2012 at 10:12pm

I also have no problem with the development of nuclear energy in Australia if standards are adhered to. It is a logical alternative as many from the Green movement seem to be against dams being constructed to store wasted rain water run off into rivers, for example, the Franklin River protests. If that river had had a dam constructed way back when we would be exporting clean energy electricity to the big island.

I also agree that the countries that use the radio active materials must be responsible for the storage of the waste.

Kind regards

Caroline

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Cox on July 11, 2012 at 10:43pm

Caroline funny thing is our nuclear waste is taken by the French and we pay handsomely for that priveledge and they then use it to power their nuclear Electric production facilities as when we have finished with it for mainly research use and limited production such as the chip wafers I mentioned earlier it has more than enough half life to power Nuclear Power Stations so they not only get Fuel rods for Nothing they charge us as well to take it what a joke.

 

The new reactor we had built by the Argentinians is a typical example of Beaurocratic bungling,we had almost every major University and many Corporate clients signing up for time use of the facilities at a good financial return from all around the world.

These scientists were under the assumption we would be building a new version of the Research reactor we already had that was a masterpiece of British Engineering HiFar,Which as I posted earlier had ports to access every known wavelength of radiation so many prebooked research labs and Time use in anticipation

of a wonderfull new facility unavailable elsewhere in the world.

They were disapointed as it is nowhere as capable as HiFar was and has other design faults that render it extremely hard to successfully radiate even Silicone Wafers for Chip production as it is too easy to knock off a corner of the wafer rendering it useless and costing us money instead of making us money which would help in making the facility cost neutral to the taxpayer.

 

The Beaurocrats responsible for that debacle are still there costing us good money for their salaries and eventual retirement for these clowns do not change with a change of Government a point lost on many as they blame the Politician when they are simply a figure head and it is the incompetents in the Department that need to be turfed out of their Offices.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Cox on July 12, 2012 at 12:39am

http://www.ki4u.com/main.htm

An interesting site for real facts regarding many aspects of Nuclear Radiation and how to deal with it,also a number of charts to show how much radiation we experience daily across Australia,Sensitivity of various Human Organs to radiation and a chart putting into perspective things such as Chernobyl and Fukushima.

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• radiation.png, 90 KB
• RadonSurveyMapSmall2.jpg, 220 KB
• measurement of radiation.pdf, 132 KB

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Permalink Reply by Dr Caroline Wright on July 12, 2012 at 7:53am

I was wondering Stephen and Norm if either of you can tell me how long after a certain amount of radio active material has reached its half-life that it can continued to be to produce energy for electricity?

Kind regards

Caroline 

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Permalink Reply by Norm Finkelstein on July 12, 2012 at 9:38am

Sorry Caroline, my background is in mechanical engineering, Stephen appears to be the expert on this subject.

Stephen, thanks for the links, we appear to be at the mercy of Bureaucrats and here today gone tomorrow Politicians all working for their international masters at the UN, God help us !

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Permalink Reply by Dr Caroline Wright on July 12, 2012 at 12:18pm

Thanks Norm. I am sure Stephen will let me know when he has time. So Stephen I would also like to know how long can we can use the rods after they have reached their half-life.

I also think Stephen is a mechanical engineer plus so very, very much more. He has a great depth of knowledge in a great many areas and has been an enormour help to me since I joined Just Grounds.

Kind regards

Caroline

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