LATEST ON SMALL MODULAR NUCLEAR REACTORS

There are already SMRs deployed and operating in China and Russia, as well as one test reactor in Japan.
Other first-of-a-kind SMRs are expected to be built this decade, followed by accelerated deployment worldwide during the 2030s, particularly as a source of reliable, low-carbon power generation and heat for hard-to-abate sectors. This includes notably the use of SMRs for on-grid baseload power to replace coal-fired generation, though market demand for SMRs continues to grow for other applications as well. The most promising include off-grid heat and power to replace diesel generators in remote regions for mining operations, fossil-fuel replacement for district heating, and high-temperature heat to replace fossil-fuel cogeneration in heavy industries. Other applications include replacing fossil fuels in cogeneration for ammonia and potash production for the fertiliser industry; hydrogen production for synthetic fuels and clean steel production; as well as marine propulsion to replace heavy-fuel oil for merchant shipping.

SMRs are driving innovation in the nuclear sector
The sector is witnessing significant innovation internationally. This includes SMRs at various stages of
development, from fundamental research on new concepts to commercial deployment and operation.
The innovation pipeline includes a range of reactor concepts – from incremental innovation in existing light water reactor technologies to breakthroughs in advanced Generation IV reactor concepts. It also includes SMRs in a variety of configurations – with land-based, multi-module, marine-based and transportable designs. These innovations incorporate new materials, a range of coolants, and, in some cases, innovative fuels. This is in turn expected to lead to the deployment of a range of SMRs of different sizes, with a range of outlet temperatures, and new attributes.

Nuclear energy supplies approximately 10% of the world’s electricity from 412 nuclear power
reactors in operation, providing 370 gigawatts of capacity. It is the largest source of non-emitting
electricity generation in OECD countries and the second largest source worldwide after hydropower.

The role of nuclear energy in meeting these pathways was emphasized at the 28th Conference of the
Parties (COP28) in Dubai on 2 December 2013 when the leaders of over 20 countries committed to
tripling global installed nuclear capacity by 2050, recognizing the critical role of nuclear energy in
achieving global net zero greenhouse gas emissions and keeping within reach the goal of limiting
the temperature rise to 1.5°C.

This commitment builds on NEA analysis that concluded in 2022 that to meet climate goals consistent with a 1.5°C scenario, global installed nuclear capacity needs to triple to 1 160 gigawatts by 2050 (NEA, 2022).

ARE WIND FARMS, SOLAR, AND BATTERIES OUR BEST ENERGY OPTIONS?

“The Extinction Rebellion types who like gluing themselves to roads are right about one thing. It makes no logical sense to rail against coal and gas like Bowen does and yet export it to major ‘polluters’ like China and India. If you truly believe that CO2 will cause a climate catastrophe or global ‘boiling’ then why would you extract and export the stuff to be used by others, while investing $billions (perhaps $trillions) in solar panels and windmills imported from China in particular who has burnt our carbon to make the panels and windmills?

“And why would you cover thousands of square kilometres of our arable land and wildlife habitat with solar panels, windmills, and transmission corridors Doesn’t this mean we are actually paying China to pollute and destroy our wildlife and the planet? And if you don’t believe that the planet is going to boil then why spend all that money on Chinese imports when we could just burn the carbon ourselves in our own power stations? Doesn’t this seem mad? The logic of Labor is so conflicted that we are willing to impoverish ourselves for nothing. Indeed it is mad.”

“Bowen asserts that an SMR (small modular reactor) would cost $5 billion. Well, that means we could build at least 4 SMRs that would be hooked to the existing grid and generate at least 1GWh of electricity on 24/7 basis for 60-80 years! Bowen has not been keeping up with what Rolls Royce SMR is doing.

Rolls-Royce SMR will move away from the high cost and high-risk complex construction programme principles into predictable factory-built commodities. Approximately 90% of manufacturing and assembly activities are carried out in factory conditions, helping to maintain an extremely high-quality product – reducing on-site disruption and supporting international roll out.

“An equivalent solar farm would need to have a theoretical output of 3+GW and would need replacing at least 4 times in addition to the $20+billion for rewiring. These are your figures – nuclear is a bargain.”

SMALL MODULAR NUCLEAR REACTORS ARE THE WAY TO GO FOR AUSTRALIA AND THE REST OF THE WORLD. If that is the case then I suggest you look at investing in the two companies that look set to dominate this market. BWX Technologies and Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd. Westinghouse is also developing the “eVinci” Small Micro Reactor so it may be worth your while following its progress.

Whilst my calling is to alert the world to what God has next for this world – Jesus Millennial Kingdom, I could not resist bringing this opportunity to the followers of http://www.livingeternal.net. God has given me a talent for business and I am sure that Jesus will use me in business during His Millennial reign in some capacity. What about you, have you ever thought about how Jesus may use you during His Millennial reign on this earth? Remember, the curse has not been lifted, people are still born and die and Jesus and the Saints need to rule with a rod of iron. Remember, also that Satan is bound for most of the thousand years but when he is released he is still able to raise an army, their number like the sand of the sea, to come against Jesus and the Saints.

What is next on God’s agenda is not the new heaven and the new earth where only the righteous dwell.

GOVERNMENTS DIVORCED FROM REALITY WITH NET ZERO

Taken from an article in the Weekend Australian Saturday, February 4th, 2023: “Emission impossible: net zero carbon reduction goal is a quest for space cadets” by Foreign Correspondent Greg Sheridan. It is a courageous article that will upset State and Federal governments big time.

Net zero, to use the first great climate change metaphor, hasn’t got a snowflake’s chance in hell. It’s a fraudulent concept. It’s not real. It requires a heroic leap of faith and magical thinking. It cannot exist in the physical universe.

Yet it’s the center of Australian national policy. All our state governments are signed up for it. Net zero pledges of one kind or another – albeit often over time­frames that recall a Star Trek voyage more than a policy commitment – cover, notionally, two-thirds of the global economy.

Greg quotes the following eminently qualified academics to support his case which only makes it even more bizarre that our governments have signed up to Net zero. I show below that our own CSRIO has published on the benefits of CO2 “having boosted green foliage across the world’s arid regions over the last 30 years”.

“In all this stuff, we live by lying now. We tell ourselves lies and we know we’re lying to ourselves.” – Senator Matt Canavan, former minister for resources

“We instead continue to participate in the fantasy of net zero.”Academics James Dyke, Robert Watson, and Wolfgang Knorr in Concept of Net Zero is a Dangerous Trap

“I am scared almost more by the consequences of net zero, than by those of climate warming.” – Wolfgang Knorr

“Complete decarbonization of the global economy by 2050 is conceivable only at the cost of unthinkable economic retreat, or as a result of extraordinarily rapid transformations relying on near-miraculous technical advances.” – Vaclav Smil, How the World Actually Works

We can reduce greenhouse gases a lot. But policy should be based on reality. There is no sign of reductions on a huge scale. Before we get to the technical, let’s examine the geopolitical, which is almost always ignored in climate hot gospelling. According to the Climate Action Tracker website, the top 12 national emitters in order are China, the US, India, Russia, Japan, Iran, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, South Korea, Canada, and Brazil.

China alone emits 30 percent of global greenhouse gases, a third more than the US and the EU combined. China, India, and Russia emit more than twice the US and EU combined. China, India, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Brazil emit half of the world’s greenhouse gases. Not one of them is a Western nation. Not one is gripped by climate politics remotely like the dynamics that dominate Europe, Australia, and North America.

As well as the case made by Greg Sheridan above, the other important consideration is the benefits of more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Did you know more CO2 in the atmosphere causes plants to grow faster, causing global greening? The fact that CO2 spurs plant growth is well established, and it is also why greenhouses pump a lot of carbon dioxide into nurseries to make plants grow faster and stronger.

According to a recent post by Patrick Michaels, a Ph.D. in ecological climatology, on the blog, Climate Etc.

“Factorial simulations with multiple global ecosystem models suggest that CO2 fertilization effects explain 70% of the observed greening trend, followed by nitrogen deposition (9%), climate change (8%), and land cover change (LCC) (4%). CO2 fertilization effects explain most of the greening trends in the tropics, whereas climate change resulted in the greening of the high latitudes and the Tibetan Plateau.

In other words, 78 [70 + 8] percent of observed planetary greening is caused by carbon dioxide and its effect on climate.

We have repeatedly demonstrated (within here, for example) that about half of a degree (C) of observed planetary warming is ascribable to anthropogenerated changes in the atmosphere. The main result appears to be a planet that is becoming so much greener that it is readily apparent from space.”

Greenhouse gas theory is well established, and human emissions have some impact on global temperatures, but the exact amount of warming CO2 causes is a matter of a large amount of uncertainty. It’s important to keep in mind that CO2 is currently increasing the production of crops through increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide.

Increased levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) have helped boost green foliage across the world’s arid regions over the past 30 years through a process called CO2 fertilisation, according to CSIRO research.

In findings based on satellite observations, CSIRO, in collaboration with the Australian National University (ANU), found that this CO2 fertilisation correlated with an 11 percent increase in foliage cover from 1982-2010 across parts of the arid areas studied in Australia, North America, the Middle East and Africa, according to CSIRO research scientist, Dr Randall Donohue.

“In Australia, our native vegetation is superbly adapted to surviving in arid environments and it consequently uses water very efficiently,” Dr Donohue said. “Australian vegetation seems quite sensitive to CO2 fertilisation.

This, along with the vast extents of arid landscapes, means Australia featured prominently in our results.”

“While a CO2 effect on foliage response has long been speculated, until now it has been difficult to demonstrate,” according to Dr Donohue.

“Our work was able to tease out the CO2 fertilisation effect by using mathematical modelling together with satellite data adjusted to take out the observed effects of other influences such as precipitation, air temperature, the amount of light, and land-use changes.”

The fertilization effect occurs when elevated CO2 enables a leaf during photosynthesis, the process by which green plants convert sunlight into sugar, to extract more carbon from the air or lose less water to the air, or both.

If elevated CO2 causes the water use of individual leaves to drop, plants in arid environments will respond by increasing their total number of leaves. These changes in leaf cover can be detected by satellite, particularly in deserts and savannas where the cover is less complete than in wet locations, according to Dr. Donohue.

On the face of it, elevated CO2 boosting the foliage in dry country is good news and could assist forestry and agriculture in such areas; however there will be secondary effects that are likely to influence water availability, the carbon cycle, fire regimes and biodiversity, for example,” Dr. Donohue said.

“Ongoing research is required if we are to fully comprehend the potential extent and severity of such secondary effects.”

This study was published in the US Geophysical Research Letters journal and was funded by CSIRO’s Sustainable Agriculture Flagship, Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, the Australian Research Council, and Land & Water Australia.

Governments seem to be divorced from reality as Matt Canavan stated, “In all this stuff, we live by lying now. We tell ourselves lies and we know we’re lying to ourselves.” – Senator Matt Canavan, former Minister for Resources.

Even more devastating they are divorced from and in opposition to their Creator. Jesus prophesied that this would be the condition the world will be in prior to His second coming. It will be like the days of Noah when lawlessness was rampant and God poured out His wrath upon the world killing all but eight people. We are fast approaching the time when God will pour out His wrath a second time with the Trumpet and Bowl judgments.

For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” Matthew 24:38-39

The world cannot say that God has not warned them about the coming Trumpet and Bowl judgments. Incredible detail is given.

The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water because it had been made bitter.
The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.
Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”

And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.
Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.
The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Revelation 8:6-13, 9:1-21

Check out the Bowl judgments they are even worse Revelation 16:1-21, with the entire topography of the earth changed prior to Jesus setting up His Millennial Kingdom after defeating the Antichrist at the battle of Armageddon.

Do you need to get right with God to ensure you do not experience the coming wrath of God? If so get on your knees and repent of ignoring God and His wonderful offer of salvation through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on your behalf. Find a born-again Christian near where you live and get baptized. If you need help in connecting with a Christian in your area send me an email – ron.careshare@gmail.com.

COMPLEXITY OF CLIMATE AND ENERGY SCIENCE

Dr Jordan B Peterson and Dr. Steven Koonin discuss the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports – the globally sourced research on climate change – and how policymakers take summaries of summaries from these to justify their green agenda, despite what the reports actually suggest. They also discuss starvation, obesity, green economics, and nuclear futures.

Dr. Steven Koonin, a University Professor at NYU, has served as the Department of Energy’s Under Secretary for Science, as Chief Scientist for BP, and as professor and Provost at Caltech. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Governor of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a senior fellow of Stanford’s Hoover Institution, and a Trustee of the Institute for Defense Analyses. Koonin holds a BS in physics from Caltech and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from MIT. He wrote the recent bestseller “Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters.”

It is important that this man has both dimensions: knowledge of climate science and energy production (technology, production, and business). Very few people have both perspectives, which is why you need to hear what he has to say.

What is not discussed in the media is the fact that the earth is becoming greener due to the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere, Since the 1980s the increase is 40%. This is wonderful. For example, the Sahara Desert has been reduced by 15%. There is no apocalypse in the future, we can manage well if we allow scientists like Dr. Koonin to guide the change to more climate-friendly energy sources. Small modular nuclear reactors will be in the mix.