Minister for the Environment Dick Roche has accused Britain of being "simplistic and disingenuous" by linking nuclear power to measures addressing climate change.
Speaking after the publication of a review of Britain's energy needs which calls for expansion of its nuclear energy programme, Mr Roche said the "solution could be worse than the problem".
It had been speculated that the review, entitled the Energy Challenge,would propose six new plants, but there was no mention of a figure in the report.
In his forward, Mr Blair wrote about Britain's need to address its increased energy requirements against a backdrop of dwindling fossil fuel supplies and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Mr Blair wrote: "Neither renewable energy nor greater energy efficiency can provide the complete solution to the shortfall we face. This will depend on securing energy supplies from abroad, in new nuclear power stations to replace those becoming obsolete and replacing older coal-fired stations with cleaner, more efficient technology."
British Ambassador Stewart Eldon tonight attempted to allay Irish fears by emphasising the Energy Review's aims were to tackle climate change and deliver safe, clean, energy at affordable prices.
"I'm sure the Irish Government would entirely share these two objectives," he said at a press briefing at the British Embassy in Dublin.
Speaking of Irish concerns about nuclear energy, he said: "A lot of concerns raised in Ireland are exactly the same as we have in Britain and we have no interest in ignoring them."
Mr Eldon reiterated that the nuclear energy debate should be based on sound and rational science.
But Mr Roche said Ireland does not accept this argument which, he said, ignores the environmental dangers posed by nuclear power.
"The hitching of nuclear to the climate-change wagon is both simplistic and disingenuous. It ignores the real economic costs and the unsustainable environmental legacy left to the future generations.
"It proposes a "solution" which in the long run could be worse than the problem," Mr Roche said.
He also questioned how the increased nuclear waste from an expanded programme could be disposed of, considering it has yet to develop a long-term waste management plan.
"The UK Government has shown itself in this process to be singularly committed to adding to the existing nuclear legacy without real consideration of the costs and environmental consequences of new nuclear build."
He also noted the cost of decommissioning existing nuclear plants in Britain has been estimated to be at least stg£70 billion.
The Minister said the matter will be raised with British and
the Government
"will oppose any negative consequences in terms of safety and environmental impacts that will arise for Ireland."
"It is obvious that minds were already made up on the outcome of this review. I will not be letting matters rest and I will be bringing our concerns to personally to my UK counterparts and the European Commission."
Presenting the report to the House of Commons, Trade Secretary Alistair Darling said nuclear power output would fall over the next 20 years.
"A new generation of nuclear power stations could make a contribution to reducing carbon emissions and reducing our reliance on imported energy," Mr Darling said
The Energy Review annual carbon emissions could be by between 19 and 25 million tonnes by 2020, putting the country back on target to achieve cuts in CO2 emissions by 60 per cent by 2050.
The review said nuclear power should be part of a range of energy production measures that includes renewable sources of over 20 per cent.
The report says new nuclear facilities would be financed by the private sector but pledged Government supports.
The report will form the basis of a government White Paper to be published before the end of the year, with a view to implementing policies by around the end of the decade.