Sir, - Your report on the test of the National Nuclear Emergency Plan appears less than fair (The Irish Times, November 12th).
To ridicule a Government Minister may provide entertaining spectator sport, but it is nonetheless true that simple sheltering is the most effective way to reduce radiation doses to those unfortunate enough to be downwind of a serious nuclear accident.
This is stressed in all official expert recommendations on short-term measures in the event of a nuclear disaster and was clearly explained in the recent article in your pages by the chief executive of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland.
To conclude, as your report did, that the only useful result of the test would be to inform people that Wylfa is the nearest nuclear installation to Ireland is neither accurate nor fair to the individuals and organisations involved in the exercise last Saturday week.
It would be reasonable to castigate the Department of Public Enterprise if its advice on nuclear emergencies did not conform to the expert opinions expressed by internationally recognised scientific bodies. However, constant ill-informed criticism, from all sections of the media, of measures designed to reduce radiation doses will inevitably result in a reduction in the efficacy of public response if there is a future nuclear accident likely to affect this country. - Yours, etc.,
I.R. McAulay, Associate Professor of Physics, Trinity College, Dublin 2.