Madam, - I must question several statements attributed to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan, in your recent supplement on global energy.
Mr Ryan says: "We don't have the systems to handle the waste from [nuclear reactors]". Well, of course we don't, because we don't have any nuclear reactors; but if in the future we do, it is most likely that the spent fuel will be taken back by the supplier for treatment and disposal, under a new international policy for the supply of nuclear fuel.
He also says: "Our existing electricity network for economic and technical reasons would not suit nuclear [energy]". In fact, our existing network suits nuclear power (ie, centralised generation) perfectly. What it does not suit at all, as it stands, is widely distributed generation, as exemplified by large-scale development of wind energy. The ESB has recently announced plans to spend some €11 billion to make the network more suitable for wind energy. I do not suggest that this money should not be spent, but the Minister should not attempt to pull the wool over people's eyes as to the realities of the economic and technical background.
Most crucially, the Minister refers to Moneypoint, our principal base-load generating station, which runs on coal, the most carbon-polluting form of fossil fuel. The Minister foresees the ultimate replacement of Moneypoint (in 15 to 20 years' time, in his estimate) by "clean coal technology". Whether this technology will then, or indeed ever, be an economic option is speculative, to say the least.
Nuclear power, a proven technology, is the only other source of virtually carbon-free base-load electricity which is going to be available. The Minister's planning should surely be taking into account this incontrovertible reality, unpalatable as it may be to some.
- Yours, etc,
TOM O'FLAHERTY, Grove Avenue, Malahide, Co Dublin.