The Sunday Mail QLD: BHP plan for steam-powerered mine [16jun06]

STEAM from water heated by radioactive granite beneath the Australian Outback will power the expansion of the nation's biggest uranium mine under a plan being considered by resources giant BHP Billiton.The power plant would be built 400km north of the remote Olympic Dam mine in South Australia.
The proposal raises the prospect of Olympic Dam, owned by BHP, using natural underground radiation to expand production of radioactive uranium for reactors in Russia.
In-depth: Australia's nuclear debate »
As the Federal Government pursues its inquiry into nuclear power, renewable energy company Pacific Hydro said reservoirs of steaming hot water in the Great Artesian Basin had the potential to supply up to a quarter of the east coast's power needs while reducing the country's greenhouse gas emissions.
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BHP is considering the $1 billion power project from Pacific Hydro, which believes it could have a greenhouse gas emission-free, 400-megawatt plant up and running within three or four years.
That would be big enough to meet all BHP's expanded power needs, including a desalination plant in Whyalla. "We are talking about a resource here of national significance," Pacific Hydro director Ian Court told The Australian.
The project would also need some government support to make it competitive with coal and natural gas, which incur no penalty for the greenhouse gases they create.
Pacific Hydro has geothermal exploration permits covering 9000sqkm of ground in northeastern South Australia that Mr Court said was the "sweet spot" of the Great Artesian Basin for accessible geothermally heated water.
Pacific Hydro is proposing to drill wells 2km underground to tap into water heated to about 130C.