Australia-Singapore Energy Relations

In response to TW’s comments on June 29, 2024.

As Australia and Singapore are far distant from each other:

Joint nuclear electricity programs would not enjoy the advantages of continental Europe where large French reactors can feed electricity into the German, Dutch and Belgian grids. Also Sing and Aus are nuclear novices, each having no nuc electricity experience. 

Shawn C advised me along the lines - also Singapore has such a small land and sea area that no Singapore located reactor could accommodate the large fenced and low population open land Exclusion Zone required. Such a Zone is required to stop terrorist attack or state based sabotage. Also any major nuclear accident (eg. Fukushima scale) might render all of tiny Singapore uninhabitable.

Better that Aus relies on countries with long power reactor experience, like South Korea, Canada or France to build nuclear reactors in Aus.

The long range undersea power cable proposed by some business interests would be high risk politically and technically.

Politically an Aus-Sing cable totally relies on Aus and Sing having near permanent good relations with the country/waters the cable crosses ie. Indonesia. Heard of Konfrontasi when Indonesian President Sukarno's hostility impacted Sing and drew in "British Commonwealth" eg. Aus forces? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia%E2%80%93Malaysia_confrontation  Is it reasonable to expect Indonesia would have stable relations (or not demand too high a "cable rent" for crossing rights) with Aus and Sing - say for 60 to 100 years?

Also the cable could be cut accidentally on purpose by the likes of Chinese Maritime Militia "trawlers". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Militia

Technically - long distance power lines/cables have major downsides: "Long-distance power transmission can lead to power loss, voltage drop, and environmental impacts.

...Another implication is voltage drop. As electricity travels along a transmission line, the voltage gradually decreases. This is due to the impedance of the line, which is a combination of its resistance and reactance." see https://www.tutorchase.com/answers/ib/physics/what-are-the-implications-of-long-distance-power-transmission

An alternate solution is Australia transforming its vast solar and windfarm and maybe geothermal potential into "Green" hydrogen and then shipping it, in liquid form, to Singapore. see https://www.dcceew.gov.au/energy/hydrogen

Also see "Singapore’s National Hydrogen Strategy" https://www.iphe.net/_files/ugd/45185a_b3020dd0074d49d7ab2da61a9be0ff38.pdf

Assange May Reoffend, Embarrassing Australia

Julian Assange was freed on June 25/26 2024. Now a whole range of potential political dangers open up for the Australian Government of Anthony Albanese - a government that did so much to engineer Assange's release.   

While most of the international public are only aware of Wikileaks releasing US helicopter footage in Iraq in 2007 - Wikileaks more significantly released over 10 million classified Western documents. The vast majority of the documents were from US traitors, some from the broader West, but tellingly virtually none were from Russia or China. Wikileaks' political links can be assessed in that light.

Scope for Becoming a Repeat Offender?

Now that Assange is free it will be interesting to see if Wikileaks again becomes a magnet illegally obtaining Western secrets. Wikileaks may well continue to avoid releasing Russian or Chinese secrets. Wikileaks future coverage of Russia's invasion and occupation of Ukraine will be a key test.

The Albanese government will be deeply embarrassed if/when Assange's Wikileaks start breaking Australian law by publicising Australian secrets. Also, as is more likely, Assange's Wikileaks publishes US secrets in future, Albanese will be highly embarrassed and will draw US anger.

How long will Assange remain in Australia? Australia is a parochial, isolated country for such a world famous celebrity as Assange. Will he move to a country more sympathetic to Russia like Hungary or to a neutral country outside of NATO, like Switzerland or Austria?

Australian Government Backs 8 Mobile REACTORS

1.  Australia's Coalition Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's tentative nuclear reactor vision from the 2030's is far less firm than Australian Prime Minister Albanese's international planning for 8 nuclear power reactors under the AUKUS submarine Agreement. Albanese plans 2 or 3 reactors in the 2030s and 5 or 6 in the 2040s. The 8 reactors will mainly be mobile but land based when in the naval base in southern Perth, Western Australia. Each of these naval reactors use 95+% bomb grade HEU. This is vastly more than 4% LEU used in the normal land electricity reactors being proposed by Dutton. The Labor supported mobile nuclear reactors may be more prone to nuclear disasters (if they collide with large ships or experience other accidents) than totally land based reactors. 

2. The Albanese government is also planning High Level (HEU) Nuclear Waste dump. This will probably be situated at the RAAF Woomera Range Complex in central Australia ie. on the Federal Government defence land promised by Albanese. Labor has already agreed to a High Level Nuclear Waste Dump because the AUKUS agreement stipulates Australia must dispose of used submarine reactors and other HEU highly irradiated parts within Australia. US and UK HEU might also be permanently stored at Australia's future High Level Nuclear Waste dump. Albanese has also agreed to a low level (LEU) nuclear waste dump to be built around 2027 on naval defence land just south of Perth.

3. The Albanese Government has made a big thing of announcing possible future regulations of supermarkets but not yet achieved anything. The regulations first need to be passed by Parliament but Dutton says he won’t support passage because the proposal might not reduce prices for we consumers. This concerns making an Australia’s Food and Grocery Code of Conduct compulsory against supermarkets (Woolworths, Coles and Aldi).  Supermarkets allegedly punish farmers who complain about the low prices supermarkets pay for farmers’ produce. Supermarkets allegedly do not pass these low prices onto we consumers. The proposal might not end any alleged price fixing by supermarkets. Also the earliest date the reform could go into effect would probably be 1 July 2025.

Taboo Topics June 19, 2024

1. Peace is being constantly being postponed in Gaza. It could be Netanyahu wants to maintain wartime status so he can stay in power. Israel wants to finish off Hamas in Gaza. Hamas wants a return to its pre-war rule of Gaza – always hostile to Israel. More extreme Israeli right wing coalition partners want to replace Netanyahu. What do you think?

2. Russia’s “peace” proposals are to keep Crimea and the eastern Ukrainian territory it invaded. Ukraine and most other countries want Russia to withdraw from Ukraine. So there is no peaceful common ground for Ukraine either. Would anything else work?

 

3. Is a name Playground Proof to avoid bullying? As the Paris Olympics nears one recalls Australian swimmer of old like Lorraine Crapp. Now we have swimmer Ariarne Titmus. and who can forget tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis?! All grandparents should steer their kids away from calling their newborns such male first names as: Cedric, Grover, Puck, Phelony, Elmo, Hunter, Heinrich, Humphrey, Herbert, Adolf, Donald, Jesus, Archibald, Mortimer, Rufus, Marmaduke, Wilbur or Dudley. Girls shouldn’t be burdened with: Gertrude, Gretchen, Hilda, Gerta, Bertha, Drusilla, Wolfurga, Moira, Prudence, Faith, Charity, Hortense, Myrtle, Clotilda and the worst, in English, is probably Ute (pronounced, in German, Ootah, and not an Australian ute, short for light truck utility).

4. Dutton’s climate policy is aimed at driving a wedge between the Greens (no new coal/oil/gas projects) and Labor (backing such projects and accepting carbon capture mythology). Meanwhile Dutton has a small target approach. Dutton’s climate policies appease climate sceptics in the Coalition’s own ranks. He can target the costs and difficulties of Labor’s renewable policies – all the while asserting the Coalition’s nuclear policies will magically achieve the same, be almost cost-free, and benefit from being in the far distant future. 

SOAPBOX

5. I actually love whales. Australia’s Humpback Whale population increased from 200 when commercial whaling ceased in the 1960s, to around 80,000. Around 35,000 humpbacks migrate up/down our east coast and 45,000 on our west coast.  

6. Bird flu strains are always around. But a particularly bad strain, called H5N1, which started in 2020, has reached Victoria. This has lead to egg shortages and price increases there. Has anybody noticed egg price rises or scarcity?

7. Chinese Premier Li Qiang's (pronounced "Changs") visit to Australia this week. Diplomacy is a compromise – pleasing no-one. Cheng Lei, the news anchor-woman detained in China for 3 years, has become a stand up comic. In Melbourne, mid June, she joked about the “rent-free accommodation” and weight loss program provided by her Chinese gaolers. She added – for the first time in her life she actually wanted to put on weight. 

Super Awesome Taboo Topics: 12 June 2024

1. Have you noticed how Australian media networks are cooking up their own news. This is seen in Ben Roberts Smith’s network funded defamation battles that inadvertently indicated guilt and Bruce Lehrmann’s endless network funded litigation. Now the heroic Liam Mendes (who has "form" for ambushing patricians) from Murdoch’s Australian has been knocked over by Channel Nine Chairman Peter Costello's "charm".

2. 25 cruise ships are due to visit Eden NSW next season with passengers walking, bussing, googling and goggling at the wonders of Sapphire culture. Why do they do it? Is it Eden’s midwinter hula dancers in black face rowing their canoes up to the ' big ships of Captain Cook's descendants? Is it the Garden of Eden and other Biblical selfies?

3. Are tourists here for stupefied viewing of the next round of Brown Mountain's roadworks? These miracles begin 17 June through to mid August boasting a $1.9million budget, 1100 linear metres of soil nails; and 180 square metres of shotcrete. Are tourists being spoilt with too many local wonders?

 

4. Covid experts see this plague peaking in mid Winter is due to a drop in vaccinations and a blasé public. The impact of a “big wave” of Covid-19 infections is being made worse by a rise in influenza, respiratory illnesses, whooping cough and pneumonia. Are we doomed?

 

5. Are you across Albo’s vs the Dutzi’s (Dutton's) climate wars? Does Australia’s target set in the Paris December 2015 agreement of 43% of greenhouse gas emissions less than the 2005 levels by 2030 make perfect sense? Australia’s net greenhouse gas emissions in June 2005 were 559 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2-e). By March 2023, 7 years 10 months after the Paris agreement, emissions were 466 Mt CO2-e ie. 24.4% below 2005 levels. I reckon Australia will meet its Paris targets by 2030, but I think I missed something.

Is (my precious!) Golum P. Dutton's - claim nuclear energy is a strait forward benefit for Australia somewhat simplistic?

 

6.  Australia's best kept secret. Albo's bold impartial, National Anti-Corruption Commission has closed sessions largely making it toothless. eg. It decided not to question those senior officials most responsible for the deadly - Robodebt scheme and it also kept their identities secret. Is Albo's efforts not to offend any monied interest group proving too contradictory?

7. Is Dutton warmly welcoming main rival Frydenberg back to the Libs or is he joshing?

8. Ex student Beatrice Tucker who said on ABC radio "Hamas deserves our unconditional support" has been expelled from ANU. Problem being Hamas is a terrorist organisation under Australian law (this type of stuff normally being classified). Separately are pro-Palestine protesters in Melbourne, Australia, who  express their love of Peace by assaulting office workers, smashing consulate windows and splashing red paint on Labor Party electorate office windows unduly favouring Labor?

9. A substance naturally occurring in pomegranates can improve memory and the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study concluded. Forgetfulness, difficulty finding words, and confusion about time and place are all common symptoms impacting the faculty of the University of Copenhagen. Professor Neils Bohr Jr found urolithin A, a naturally occurring substance in pomegranates, can boost language skills in mice.

Half Collins Fleet Docked Long Term

Andrew Greene for Australia's ABC News, reported May 31, 2024:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-31/unprecedented-corrosion-discovered-on-collins-class-submarine/103919164

"Unprecedented corrosion discovered on Collins Class submarines, half of fleet to remain out of service this year

Half of Australia's Collins Class submarine fleet will remain out of the water for the rest of the year with unprecedented corrosion problems discovered on two of the ageing boats.

Officials from ASC, formerly Australian Submarine Corporation, have confirmed three submarines are currently in shipyards receiving upgrades and urgent maintenance, meaning just three others are available for the Navy during 2024.

At a Senate estimates hearing, ASC CEO Stuart Whiley revealed that engineers had discovered significant corrosion damage on board HMAS Sheean during full cycle docking work which will require further repairs until at least Christmas.

Fire emergency hits Collins-class submarine

One of Australia's oldest Collins-class submarines has suffered an on-board electrical fire while at sea.

Read more

"The delays have been primarily caused by hull preservation issues relating to the weapons discharge and a number of hull forgings which we've not seen before," Mr Whiley told the committee.

"You have to remove all of the corrosion, so you have to grind it out, then you have to replace the metal you've removed effected by welding techniques and then you have to machine the weld to effectively get the tolerances to fit for the equipment that then goes on to it.

"That's effectively what we're trying to do here, and these are in fairly difficult, unique places to do [the work]," Mr Whiley explained to the committee under questioning from Liberal senator Simon Birmingham.

While work continues on HMAS Sheean at Adelaide's Osborne shipyard, different corrosion issues have also been discovered on HMAS Farncomb which has extended her scheduled intermediate docking at the Henderson shipyard in Western Australia.

HMAS Sheean returns alongside to family and friends at Fleet Base West, Rockingham, Western Australia, after leaving in April.(Royal Australian Navy: Richard Cordell)

"There's a variety of corrosion on a number of areas throughout the boat… it's relating to corrosion of frames and parts of tanks that we've not seen a level of for a boat of this nature."

At the same time HMAS Rankin has also arrived at the Osborne shipyard for a scheduled maintenance full cycle docking period but Navy has not yet handed the boat over to ASC, the first time half the fleet has been out of action since 2012.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, whose department wholly owns ASC, was also questioned about when she had been informed of the extent of the problems on the Collins Class fleet.

"I'm satisfied that ASC are doing what they need to do and engaging with Defence and in terms of matters relating to Defence's overall budget I work closely with the Minister of Defence on those matters."

When pressed by Senator Birmingham on when she was last formally briefed by ASC on the Collins Class fleet, Senator Gallagher confirmed she met with the organisation in February but could not recall precisely what was discussed.

Australia is hoping to continue operating Collins Class submarines well into the 2030s when they're gradually replaced by second-hand nuclear powered Virginia class boats purchased from from the United States under the AUKUS partnership."