The Honourable Wayne Swan MP, Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia, delivered the first budget for the new Labor government tonight.
The listed major new iniatives in the environmental area include:
$14 million for the 'National Urban Water and Desalination Plan';
$ 108 million for a 'Solar Australia Program'; and
$ 34.8 million for a national clean coal fund.
In the lead up to the federal election last year, Labor promised $1 billion for the National Urban Water and Desalination Plan to help secure the water supplies of Australia’s major cities with centres of excellence in desalination in Perth and a centre of excellence in water recycling in Brisbane—acknowledging these cities as leaders in these respective fields.
Given the election promise, the allocation for desalination for next year is very modest.
I wrote about Labor's proposed water policy in the March IPA Review:
http://www.ipa.org.au/publications/publisting_detail.asp?pubid=801
Ender, the only bottleneck is the one in your mind. Tom has a very good point. Do you seriously believe, given all the advances in metalic alloys over the past fifty years, that the metalurgical industry has forgotten how to forge large pressure vessels?
Do you seriously believe that the modern armour on US, British, French German and Russian tanks could have been developed by people who have forgotten how to forge high quality steel?
By people who would need 5 to 10 years to resurect 50 year old technology?
I knew you were illinformed, and I knew you were delusional, but I had no idea you were capable of such breathtaking ignorance. The lengths that you will go to reinforce your prejudices is truly amazing.
Tom Melville - "To imply that this kind of technology is limited to the Japanese, and that other steel makers are incapable of adapting the same technology to make single forge reactor cores is a bit rich. This know-how has only been around for the best part of 100 years."
I am not saying anything of the sort. Obviously the others have let this knowledge lapse and once lost is very difficult to get back. Of course all these could do it however who is going to spend the money to do it. Remember without a military contract are investors going to wait for 5 or 10 years for people to re-invent the techniques to forge flawless reactor vessels. What if they never get it? As the article says it is more of an art than a science and the people are critical.
The point is that a quick rollout of nuclear power is not going to happen in time for it to make a real difference to CO2 levels.
Wind and solar can be rolled out much much faster without the same bottlenecks as the technology involved is much less fail safe and less critical. Not wasting the money on a nuclear pipe dream and channeling it into wind and solar thermal will result in larger reductions in CO2 and not create waste for someone else.
Yes, Motty, don't forget that the making of large gun barrels was not a technology restricted to the Japanese. The Germans made them for the Bismark, The Brits made them for the Prince of Wales, The Americans made them for the Missouri, and the French made them for the Richelieu.
To imply that this kind of technology is limited to the Japanese, and that other steel makers are incapable of adapting the same technology to make single forge reactor cores is a bit rich. This know-how has only been around for the best part of 100 years.
And the point of this off-topic waddle about how they make $10,000 (1 million Yen) swords was?
Was there anything in this little travelogue that would indicate that a Japanese Steel maker would be unwilling to duplicate a minor steel forging unit?
Does Ender have the faintest idea about the how long it would take to set up such a unit? Clearly not. We are not talking about a new blast furnace from scratch. We are talking about a subsidiary forging unit. These guys could do it blindfolded.