Sir, – I agree with Sadhbh O'Neill that we should not put all our eggs in the nuclear basket to solve the climate crisis ("Time is against nuclear power as a climate fix", Opinion & Analysis, February 15th).
However, I disagree with Prof O’Neill’s contention that 100 per cent renewable energy will save the day.
Taking the island of Ireland as an example, we might expect an average winter electricity demand of around 6 GW by 2030. If we assume (optimistically) an import capacity of 3 GW, the remaining 3 GW will need to be supplied within the island.
Unfortunately, wind generation can be negligible during anticyclones, which can last several days. Solar power will be zero during winter evenings. There could credibly be a need for storage to cover three windless days – just over 200 GWh. That is about 100 times the capacity of our largest facility, the pumped storage scheme at Turlough Hill.
It seems unlikely that storage on this scale could be deployed before the last fossil-fuelled generator is retired.
Perhaps we should aim for a diverse electricity supply based on small modular nuclear reactors to complement our undoubted renewable resources.
The basic fission technology has been well tested over half a century, with the focus now on manufacturing issues that remove much of the drama from building nuclear power stations on site. An ideal solution for Ireland? – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN FOX,
Professor Emeritus,
Queen’s University
Belfast.