A chara, - David Sowby (December 27th) seizes on the suggestion from Amárach Consulting that nuclear power should be an option for Ireland in future. Nuclear power was only one of the options given in the Irish Times report of December 22nd. Another was wind and other renewable energy sources.
Ireland needs to become part of an EU pool for energy production and consumption. In this way it could at last capitalise on the vast wind energy resources available, especially off-shore.
The nuclear option is not acceptable for several technical, financial and ethical reasons, not least the poor track record of successive Irish governments in failing to tackle the scourge of illegal dumping, which in the past has included radioactive waste material, and the conundrum of how to deal with huge amounts of nuclear waste worldwide.
Meanwhile Ireland needs to stop wasting energy. Unlike Germany and the Netherlands, our Government does not financially encourage people to put solar panels on roofs. Unlike Sweden, Ireland has a grossly energy-inefficient built environment. Unlike in Canada, you do not see signs here telling vehicle owners to switch off their engines while stationary.
I am glad Mr Sowby is keen to debate the vital issue of future energy policy. However, let us remember in the process that in meeting the needs of this generation, future generations will find life challenging enough without being required to clean up nuclear and other wastes after the class of 2004. Happy New Year. - Is mise,
TREVOR SARGENT, TD, Leader /Ceannaire, Green Party/Comhaontas Glas, Dáil Éireann, Baile Átha Cliath 2.
Madam, - How brave of Amárach Consulting to mention the dirty words "nuclear power" in connection with a possible solution to the looming problem of meeting future demand for electrical power in this country (Business, December 22nd). Few have dared to do so in recent times.
For most of the past 30 years or so the "nuclear option" was kept open but not taken up. I believe this was both correct policy and a correct decision. But today the option is no longer open and this is a mistake.
There are many reasons; I shall give a few. New nuclear plants are safer, easier to build, and are economically competitive. They have simpler fuel cycles that are more resistant to terrorist attack and misuse as sources of materials for nuclear weapons. They are designed not only for an operational life of 60 years but also with end-of-life decommissioning and waste disposal problems in mind.
Like all nuclear reactors, they do not release greenhouse gases into the environment and so, in combination with wind and other alternative energies systems, could provide a secure electrical supply that could at the same time allow us to comply with the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol to the Climate Change Convention.
The latest Canadian design, known as the Advanced Candu Reactor or ACR, delivers 700 megawatts of electrical power (almost as much as the coal burning station at Moneypoint). It can be built, it is claimed, in 36 months at a cost of $700 million, which is considerably less than the fossil fuel plants approved recently at Aughinish and Galway. The operating costs are estimated to be less than 1 US cent per kilowatt hour. This is not just idle boasting; the Canadians have built six similar plants of an earlier design over the past six years in Romania, South Korea and China, all to budget and on time - except for one that was completed ahead of schedule. This new Canadian reactor is just one of several new reactors on the market.
If the option of employing nuclear power is not open, we may have to wait until we are shivering with the cold to see its advantages. Then, alas, it may be too late to select and get the type of reactor that suits this country best.
Finally, I might add that the Irish Academy of Engineering, in its report of November 2002 entitled "Ireland's Environment", said the following: "Despite public concern about nuclear power and the disposal of radioactive waste, developments in nuclear power should be kept under review." I believe this is good advice. - Yours, etc.,
FRANK TURVEY, Greystones, Co Wicklow.