All the space faring nations are focussed on queuing up to setup permanent Moon bases, they all want access to Helium-3 resources to make fusion reactors a reality. Helium-3 accumulates in surface sediments as a result of the bombardment by cosmic rays, solar radiation and solar wind. At the moment for the test bed fusion reactors they harvest minute quantities helium-3 from conventional fission reactors. Think of the moon as a giant Helium-3 collector.
Why are they so keen for helium-3? Because Helium-3 is the only naturally occurring isotope that can be used as fuel in fusion reactors without producing radioactive by-products.
If they can't get enough helium-3 off the moon, they will construct specific types of fission reactors that are designed to generate(breed) helium-3 fuel for fusion reactors. There are a few different ways they can get to it via fission processes, one of them is using lithium, and if that pathway eventuates lithium batteries will be dead in the water as it will become a tightly controlled and expensive commodity much like normal helium is now. Normal helium is abundant in the universe, but rare on earth because it is so light it just floats away if not constrained!
Fusion reactors are like fission reactors, they get efficiency from scale, and once you get them running they are not easy to stop and start so you need to keep them running. It's likely that the best place to build one is next door to a desalination plant, steel or aluminium smelter so they have the 24x7 minimum demand meet. Australia was stupid not building nuclear plants next door to some of the myriad of desalination plants we are accumulating. Another nice industry to put in close vicinity is hydroponic agri-business that needs both heat and power to run 24x7.
Personally though, for agri-business I'd love to see Victoria make strong use of the low grade geothermal resource that exists in a band stretching between Bairnsdale and Ballarat. There is probably enough specific heat capacity to see Victoria feed all of Australia with greenhouse compatible crops all year round, consuming virtually none of the dairy critical land in the process. You won't get Federal funding for it though, because politics is mired in the Nationals farmers dig dirt mentality, that roots the bulk of the industry to Qld and WA. Politics and bureaucracy interfering in progress yet again.
Why are they so keen for helium-3? Because Helium-3 is the only naturally occurring isotope that can be used as fuel in fusion reactors without producing radioactive by-products.
If they can't get enough helium-3 off the moon, they will construct specific types of fission reactors that are designed to generate(breed) helium-3 fuel for fusion reactors. There are a few different ways they can get to it via fission processes, one of them is using lithium, and if that pathway eventuates lithium batteries will be dead in the water as it will become a tightly controlled and expensive commodity much like normal helium is now. Normal helium is abundant in the universe, but rare on earth because it is so light it just floats away if not constrained!
Fusion reactors are like fission reactors, they get efficiency from scale, and once you get them running they are not easy to stop and start so you need to keep them running. It's likely that the best place to build one is next door to a desalination plant, steel or aluminium smelter so they have the 24x7 minimum demand meet. Australia was stupid not building nuclear plants next door to some of the myriad of desalination plants we are accumulating. Another nice industry to put in close vicinity is hydroponic agri-business that needs both heat and power to run 24x7.
Personally though, for agri-business I'd love to see Victoria make strong use of the low grade geothermal resource that exists in a band stretching between Bairnsdale and Ballarat. There is probably enough specific heat capacity to see Victoria feed all of Australia with greenhouse compatible crops all year round, consuming virtually none of the dairy critical land in the process. You won't get Federal funding for it though, because politics is mired in the Nationals farmers dig dirt mentality, that roots the bulk of the industry to Qld and WA. Politics and bureaucracy interfering in progress yet again.
"Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck ....... Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck"