Nuclear is a natural with wind and solar

  (published in The Australian Feb19/21)   Australia’s ability to reach net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 will be determined, according to Scott Morrison, by advances in science and technology. It is impossible not to agree with his assessment.   While there is no utopian solution to our energy challenge, all sources of low-emissions energy,…
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On certainty and uncertainty

Where has all the certainty gone? We never had more than a bit; but now the Covid monster has gobbled up much of what we had. The lockdowns have knocked us off kilter. Our economic life has lost its bearings and we face challenges not only for today but ranging into long term alteration whose…
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The technology has come a long way, making nuclear energy safer, portable and reliable

Scott Morrison in his recent national energy address – given symbolically at the Tomago aluminium smelter in NSW that is beset by energy costs – enunciated three guiding objectives for energy policy, including ensuring “a resilient energy system through a balanced mix of technologies.” The growing consensus is that Australia eventually will ditch its largest…
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ON THE REACH OF CONNECTION

The Covid – 19 pandemic has forced me to reflect on many things, of the sanctity and fragility of human life, of its entanglement with economic activity, of the role of science, and, most of all, connection, the substrate that links them all together. In its Latin origin the word means to bind, and that’s…
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ON SCIENCE AND OTHER REALITY

We are in the Age of Science. The human brain is pushing knowledge further and further into the abyssal dark of the unknown. The prominence of science has never reached such heights. It reigns as the dominant cultural entity, the most exciting hero of the human struggle, eclipsing the high arts, literature and religion, endeavours…
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ON REVERENCE

Few would argue that the human condition is bereft of reverence. But in practice these days it would seem so at times. The infectious irony and scepticism of the postmodernist age have tended to unsettle our culture. Even if, as some people claim, we have moved on and postmodernism is dead, it rules us from…
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On Nuclear

Most of inland Australia is gripped by one of the worst droughts the country has experienced, certainly since European settlement began 230 years ago. The world’s oldest landmass has always been prone to long dry periods, but what is new is that Australia now has a population of over 25 million that needs to be…
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Bushfires and satellites

Australia’s apparent lack of preparation to confront the ongoing bushfire crisis seems shortsighted; the next time they flare up, as inevitably they will, it would be unconscionable. As reported this week, our bushfires are happening three times more often than a century ago, while over the same period the country’s population has increased five times. Why…
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nuclear plant; mining

INTERNATIONAL URANIUM CONFERENCE – TONY’S KEYNOTE PRESENTATION

AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF MINING AND METALLURGY INTERNATIONAL URANIUM CONFERENCE ADELAIDE, JUNE 4/19 Australia is a treasure trove, a vast Aladdin’s cave of energy resources, virtually unique in the world. We have huge deposits of petroleum and coal and the world’s largest uranium resources. With the production of about 7000 tonnes last year, Australia ranks third…
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A QUESTION OF LOYALTY

Like water for fish, loyalty is a medium human need to survive. It surrounds the base of evolutionary imperative, forming an invisible shield for children and clan in the struggle against the slings and arrows of the world. It affords security to the sense of belonging and links the soul to the familiarity of place….
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