Sir – In his article reporting the Taoiseach’s comments on Ireland examining the option of nuclear power, your correspondent repeats the apocryphal notion that small modular reactors (SMRs) have lowered the high bar required to build nuclear power plants in terms of time and cost (“Ireland should ‘examine seriously’ nuclear power option, says Taoiseach”, Politics, May 4th).
SMRs have been the nuclear industry’s next shiny dream for as long as I can remember. The problem is that, outside of a few and highly unproven prototypes, they still exist largely in the imagination of the nuclear industry and its supporters.
We should absolutely have a debate on the merits of nuclear power, but we should do so on the basis of facts. The primary benefit of nuclear power is its economies of scale; that is, it must be large.
The most relevant example for our purposes is Hinkley Point C in the United Kingdom, which has so far been estimated to cost up to £50 billion. It is also beset with delays and will not be delivered until at least 25 years after it was announced – and that is in a country with a long-established nuclear power industry.
RM Block
I suspect the most appropriate solution for Ireland will be to import nuclear power from France via the Celtic Interconnector, while at the same time exporting our renewable electricity. – Yours, etc,
GAVIN DALY,
Mountjoy,
Dublin 1.
Sir, – Fianna Fáil TD James O’Connor has proposed legislation to reverse Ireland’s ban on nuclear energy. It is always heartening to see our legislators plan for the distant future.
And distant it shall be. If the children’s hospital and MetroLink have taught us anything, it is that Ireland’s relationship with infrastructure is less a sprint, or indeed a marathon, than a multigenerational relay race.
Based on current form, the ribbon-cutting ceremony for any Irish nuclear plant would be attended by our AI overlords and Homo procrastinatus: an evolved human species with considerably cheaper energy bills, one assumes, and no memory of being promised delivery by 2031.
In the meantime, I trust we will all continue to enjoy expensive electricity with quiet dignity. – Yours, etc,
DAN O’NEILL,
Ballybricken,
Co Limerick.
