IN THESE days of “revolution” and rethinking of politics, it is perhaps time to revisit another cherished national taboo: nuclear power. A plausible case for doing so was made this week by Prof Philip Walton, NUI Galway emeritus professor of applied physics and an advocate for the group Better Environment with Nuclear Energy (BENE). He urged the new Government to rescind legislation that bans nuclear power.
New Minister for Energy Pat Rabbitte takes over from Green predecessor Eamon Ryan with a programme for government that shares the latter’s emphasis on developing renewable sources of power, specifically geothermal, marine and wind energy. This approach has undoubted merits but there are practical limits to what such sources can do to reduce our 90 per cent dependence on carbon-emitting fossil fuels. As the UK recommitted itself to nuclear plant building in 2008, Ryan himself acknowledged a need to reopen the debate.
That view is shared by an increasing number of interested parties, including the business and employers representative group Ibec, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Irish Academy of Engineers whose 2009 report warns of the huge lead time involved in the debate. A new plant in Ireland would almost certainly take up to 15 years to plan and construct.
In recent years even within the environmental movement, the argument for nuclear power has gained ground in the face of the climate change challenge of finding low-emission solutions to energy demand, and of the proven safety record of the modern industry in OECD countries. BENE contends that previously “insuperable” challenges such as disposal of radioactive waste have been overcome.
Walton argues that global warming, the increasing insecurity of fossil fuel sources, and vastly improved safety have changed the context of the debate since the late 1970s when thousands marched on Carnsore Point in Co Wexford. Or even more recently when Ireland protested to Britain over the notoriously accident-prone Windscale/Sellafield plant in Cumbria. Politically and environmentally we are in different times, not least because voters are less prone to confuse the debate with that on nuclear weapons.
Today 31 countries operate nuclear power plants and some of those which had decided to stop construction of new facilities – like Britain, Finland and Italy – are pressing ahead again. Ireland is at liberty to adopt a different approach but it is prudent to consider all options.