Meeting Ireland’s energy needs

A chara, – Frank E Bannister (March 3rd) and others have welcomed a debate on nuclear power as a possible solution to our energy needs. Given our record on establishing utilities, most recently with Irish Water, frankly the prospect terrifies me.

I feel we would be better placed to incentivise people to make better choices with regard to energy consumption and waste. Grants for the retrofitting of smart thermostats, reduced VAT on timers for electronic devices and a levy on products with excessive packaging would be a good start. The plastic bag levy and smoking bans have demonstrated that it is a lot more cost-effective to change people’s behaviour than to invest in heavy infrastructure to supply our insatiable demand for energy.

Perhaps the only consolation in the Irish Water debacle has been that although it has exploded in the faces of the Government parties, our local water pipes are unlikely to explode in ours. I’m not so sure I would be prepared to take the same chance with nuclear power. – Yours, etc,

SÉAMUS McMENAMIN,

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An Uaimh,

An Mhí.­

Sir, – It's understandable – given its portrayal in the past – that people are wary of nuclear energy. But as David Robert Grimes points out, it is much safer than conventional power sources ("We need to debate the nuclear option honestly", February 24th). On a global level, coal has been the most fatal energy source, with about 170,000 deaths per trillion kilowatt-hours; on the other end of the scale is nuclear energy, the safest, with 90 deaths per trillion kilowatt-hours. Wind energy has been the cause of about 150 deaths per trillion kilowatt-hours.

When people hear the word “radiation” it’s often assumed to be bad and dangerous. Ionising radiation comes in different forms. Some of it, such as alpha particles from radioactive decay, is harmless and can be stopped with a sheet of paper. Other types, such as gamma-rays, have much higher energy and require greater shielding.

We probably don’t think much of the radioactive sources in the smoke alarms in our homes, or of needing to apply sunscreen to protect our skin from UV radiation from the sun. However, we probably pay more attention to radiation when we visit the hospital for scans or fly regularly, as we are respectively exposed to X-rays from the machine checking our broken wrists or from cosmic radiation from space itself passing through the thinner atmosphere.

Radiation and nuclear energy isn’t something that should necessarily be thought of as “bad” or “dangerous” or something we should be afraid of. Rather, we need to understand this energy source and treat it responsibly and with the respect it deserves and requires. – Yours, etc,

CONOR FARRELL,

Associate Member,

Institute of Physics,

Dublin 9.