The Climate, Environment and Energy Thread

[LP]

I'm not sure the Aust political landscape is smart enough to do that, LP.

Would the costings of a nuclear plant include desalination?

Partially, there is a lot of overlap, much of the nuclear cost is bureaucracy, compliance and licensing, the direct material cost is not all that much more than a conventional coal or gas fire power station. In some of the proposed locations desalination already exists, so you just create the necessary grid connections. But the closer together the better, as this avoids energy loss through the grid.

In the detail is the evil of the politics, because even if they go ahead opponents will try and drive the cost up to the tax payer, it's a mean vindictive way to behave but that is what they do behave. Even in the absence of a viable alternative. Oddly, they hurt themselves because ultimately taxes rise for the protestors as much as they do everybody else! A great example is the inflated cost of wind power due to compliance and compensation costs, by the way the same applies to 5G!

Long long term, the same fission sites would become the ideal location to repurpose for fusion given they need pretty much the same resources, water, heavy water, hydrogen, deuterium, etc., etc., but fusion is a wish not an eventuality.

Unfortunately, much of the debate is insular and fragmented, when it should really be broad and inclusive.