Uranium enrichment company Silex Systems has received firm commitments to raise $130 million via an institutional placement of approximately 33.3 million new fully paid ordinary shares at $3.90 per share. According to a statement from the company on Thursday, proceeds will be used primarily to support commercialisation of the company’s SILEX uranium enrichment technology in…
Support among Australians for nuclear power has fallen, according to a survey of more than 4,000 respondents conducted by Griffith University’s Climate Action Beacon in partnership with the Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub. The National Climate Action Survey was showing that “the logic of investment and risk” didn’t pass most Australians’ pub tests, according…
Governor-General to join Good Design Australia as Patron Design advocacy body Good Design Australia announced on Tuesday that the Governor-General, Sam Mostyn, will become the Patron of the organisation, in what it said was a “historic appointment signal[ing] the critically important role of design in shaping Australia’s future.” In a statement, the organisation said the…
By Timothy Weber, Australian National University and Andrew Blakers, Australian National University Australia’s energy policy would take a sharp turn if the Coalition wins the upcoming federal election. A Dutton government would seek to build seven nuclear power plants at the sites of old coal-fired power stations. The Coalition says its plan makes smart use…
By John Quiggin, The University of Queensland Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s plan for nuclear power in Australia has provoked a great deal of discussion and analysis – most of it critical. Experts point out the Coalition’s long-awaited modelling involves both highly optimistic costings and a massively lower demand for electricity than expected in official projections. In…
By Ian Lowe, Griffith University and Kylie Walker, Australian National University Australia’s clean energy transition is already underway, driven by solar, wind, batteries and new transmission lines. But what about nuclear? Opposition leader Peter Dutton last month committed to building nuclear reactors on the site of retired coal plants – triggering intense debate over whether…
What were the five biggest stories of the week? Here’s what visitors to @AuManufacturing were reading. 5) Fortescue backpedals on green hydrogen, heads downstream Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue has backpedaled on its ambitions in green hydrogen, reorganising the mining and energy company and focusing more on familiar downstream green energy opportunities. The company, which has taken what some…
By Bill Grace, The University of Western Australia Before renewables came along, coal-fired power stations pumped out electricity (and carbon emissions) 24 hours a day. But now, this type of “always on” baseload power is no longer necessary or commercially viable. This is one of many reasons why the Coalition’s proposed nuclear strategy is flawed.…
By Asma Aziz, Edith Cowan University Keeping the lights on in Australia is a complex task. Enough capacity must be ensured everywhere in the country, at every moment. Surplus in one location won’t solve shortages in another, unless we have the transmission infrastructure to transmit electricity between them. The transmission network largely consists of high-voltage…
What were the five biggest stories of the week? Here’s what visitors to @AuManufacturing were reading. 5) Responding to the loss of sovereign ability to make plastics While issues such as quantum computing attract political action, Australia is losing the sovereign ability to manufacture even basic products such as plastics and downstream products such as…