Madam, - Ireland's anti-nuclear policy seems to me to be based on a number of nightmare scenarios wrapped up in a ball of hypothetical catastrophes.
Sellafield and Chernobyl are most often invoked as the rationale for ruling out nuclear fission for generating electricity. To put matters into perspective,consider the projected death toll from radiation from Chernobyl for the next 20 years, given by the IAEA - approximately 4,000. This is the number of deaths that would occur on Irish roads over the same period - assuming we could keep the death toll at or below 200 a year! Would it be rational to ban motorised transport altogether because of such figures? Hardly. We would be cutting off our noses to spite our faces. A more rational response would be to do all we practically can to minimise dangers (better roads, more driver testers, stricter enforcement of road safety, etc). We live in a world where risks can be minimised and reduced but never entirely eliminated.
The worst of the fallout from Chernobyl occurred within a 30-40 kilometre radius of the plant, which seems to suggest that an accident at Sellafield would produce its worst fallout over a similarly localised area. Those worst affected would be workers on the site and those called in to deal with the clean-up. We have excellent monitoring facilities operated by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland which would give us adequate warning of any dangers and allow evasive action to be taken.
France currently operates about 60 nuclear fission reactors of various types. Would it be rational to cancel your holidays in France simply because of the risk of fallout if an accident occurred? Are the French idiots for adopting nuclear power on such a scale? Does our official anti-nuclear stance make us all geniuses? Today's nuclear reactors are not the same as those built and designed in the 1950s and the reactors to be constructed around the world in the coming years will in all likelihood be safer to operate.
It is time to revisit the nuclear option without going into emotional meltdown. Let us explore all our options and examine cherished assumptions in a rational frame of mind. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL DOHENY, Oak Road, Viewmount, Waterford.