Prime Minister, As well as having Uranium resources among the largest in the World, Australia has about a million square kilometers of desert admirably suited to the collection of solar energy, and pretty much useless for anything else. In fact we could more than supply the entire planet with solar based energy, giving us a new export industry greater than any we currently have. Using dirt cheap paper thin plastic cylindrical Fresnel lenses, with the actual plumbing lying on the surface, and hence requiring no supporting structure, combined with "selective surface" technology, solar could be 10-100 times cheaper than it currently is (guesstimate). That would not just make it competitive with all existing technologies, it would make it cheaper than anything else. Furthermore modular construction can be used for a solar installation, with small segments being brought "on line" as they are completed, whereas a nuclear plant doesn't start producing power until the whole thing is completed.
The expertise already exists in Australian universities, particularly UNSW. To top it off, it would vastly improve Australia's "green" image in the World. R. van Spaandonk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Upper Ferntree Gully Vic.
