Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has rejected nuclear power as a solution to global warming and has promised a "comprehensive" national climate-change strategy by Easter.
One-third of national electricity consumption is to be generated from alternative energy by 2020 and new measures will include mandatory use of bio-fuel mix in transport fuels and other energy efficiencies in the State sector, Mr Ahern told the Ógra Fianna Fáil national youth conference in Galway at the weekend.
However, Ógra Fianna Fáil chair Barry Andrews TD says he is "not sure that it is realistic" to "rule out" the nuclear energy option, given the pace of international events. "It doesn't mean we have to build nuclear power stations, but it can be bought in for the national grid."
The Government's stance was also challenged at the Ógra conference by a keynote speaker, Prof Philip Walton, a retired professor of applied physics at NUI, Galway.
Prof Walton, spokesman for new lobby group Better Environment for Nuclear Energy, said there was a "resurgence of interest" in nuclear power internationally, due to the impact of global warming on climate change.
Ireland's dependence on imported fossil fuels, which were becoming scarce and more expensive, and the difficulties associated with alternative sources like wind energy were cited by Prof Walton as compelling reasons to reconsider the State's approach.
The 30 per cent target for renewables by 2020, set by Minister for Natural Resources Noel Dempsey in the upcoming White Paper on energy, were "very ambitious", he said, and "I hope he's right".
Prof Walton told the conference that it would take 1,000 wind generators to provide the energy generated by one nuclear power plant. France derived 78 per cent of its energy from nuclear power and Sweden derived 50 per cent, he said.
The world had "12,000 reactor years" of experience, with two major accidents at Chernobyl in the Ukraine in 1986 and Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, in 1979, Prof Walton said. The casualties were "minuscule" compared to other industries, he claimed.
The high level of waste from reactors was a problem, he noted, but the US was resolving it by building a central repository in Nevada. Asked by one delegate to estimate the number of nuclear power plants Ireland would require, Prof Walton said he would replace the ESB coal-burning station at Moneypoint with a nuclear power plant of 600 megawatts, and several more plants of 300-400 megawatts.
No minister was present during Prof Walton's address, but Mr Dempsey joined the workshop later and welcomed Ógra Fianna Fáil's decision to discuss the issue. A statutory ban on generating electricity by nuclear means had been in existence for the best part of 30 years and there was "no proposal before Government or contemplated by Government to change that", he said.
In his address to the conference, the Taoiseach promised a "green energy revolution" which ensured that Ireland met its obligations in full to tackle climate change. A climate change strategy was being prepared for Easter by a ministerial taskforce.
New measures announced by Mr Ahern include:
Instruction to Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann to move all their existing fleet to a 5 per cent bio-fuel blend, with a target 30 per cent bio-fuel blend in all new buses.
A mandatory programme of efficiency measures within the public sector, including sole use of energy-efficient lighting in offices, schools and hospitals.
All street lighting and traffic lighting systems to be energy efficient.
Mandatory use of bio-fuel mix in transport fuels and establishment of a national bio-fuel distribution network.
Changes in planning law to facilitate installation of new energy technologies such as domestic wind turbines, solar panels, bio-mass burners and heat pumps.