Should Ireland go nuclear?

Should Ireland go nuclear?

  • Yes

    Votes: 16 84.2%
  • No

    Votes: 3 15.8%

  • Total voters
    19
Since the price of a unit of power from renewables is now less than a third of the same unit from nuclear it makes no sense right now.

There used to be a case for it but not anymore.
 
Nope.

Hydrogen is the future, not nuclear.
Most countries are closing stations not opening them.
You're comparing apples with steering wheels.

Nuclear is a generating capability. Hydrogen is a storage capability.

The physics and engineering reality of this are clear, nuclear is by far the cheapest, fastest and lowest risk way of both converting our existing electricity network to net zero and electrifying the rest of the energy economy. Don't forget, you need to convert all transport, manufacturing, etc to zero emissions.

Hydrogen would be part of that picture but as a storage, not generation medium.

I'm not convinced we can get there with renewables at all.

The enormous cost and delays in building nuclear plants are almost entirely based in idiotic regulatory regimes that ignore the scientific reality of nuclear. Radon gas is orders of magnitude more dangerous from a radiation point of view.

The fact that Moneypoint was built as a result of the cancellation of Carnsore Point is a cracking illustration of ignorance of the dangers of radiation.

The only situation where nuclear power plants spew radiation into the air are when they go on fire. This is an exceedingly rare situation, it's an INES event of 4 or above:
So far in 70 years there have been:
2 Level 7 events
1 Level 6 event
4 Level 5 events
13 Level 4 events, 5 of which were Sellafield.


On the other hand, coal plants send large volumes of radioactive particles into the air every single day, where should they be nuclear power plants, they would be ranked as at least Level 5 incidents every single day.
Ireland chose guaranteed radiation leakages with airborne radiative particles and large irradiated waste heaps instead of highly unlikely radiation leakages.

And then there's the question of how much radiation is dangerous.


I really think the restrictions around nuclear should be massively reduced. It's the fastest, cheapest and easiest way of achieving Net Zero


*It's worth looking at what is ranked in the top global nuclear incidents globally, e.g.:
Severe corrosion of reactor vessel head forces 24-month outage of Davis-Besse reactor
Balance-of-plant equipment malfunction forces shutdown and extensive repairs at Crystal River Unit
 
Last edited:
Why should Ireland invest in Nuclear plants when we have an inter-connector coming from France shortly buying their nuclear power and EDF are investing heavily here in renewables anyway as well?

Gas & Hydro to supplement.

The planning application process for nuclear would take a decade at least and then no guarantee of a positive outcome. €50-100 million+ on an application alone potentially as there are very few suitable locations around our coast.
 
Since the price of a unit of power from renewables is now less than a third of the same unit from nuclear it makes no sense right now.

There used to be a case for it but not anymore.
That is entirely true, so long as you neglect the cost of variability of wind power and the problems of scaling it to sufficient size.
 
That is entirely true, so long as you neglect the cost of variability of wind power and the problems of scaling it to sufficient size.
We would be looking into expensive battery storage or using any spare wind energy to power water storage for hydro to use when the wind is calm.

Putin is seriously advancing developments in alternative energy supplies thus strangling Russia's present and future.

The Arabs will just love him for the extra $$$ right now but long term not so much.
 
We would be looking into expensive battery storage or using any spare wind energy to power water storage for hydro to use when the wind is calm.

Putin is seriously advancing developments in alternative energy supplies thus strangling Russia's present and future.

The Arabs will just love him for the extra $$$ right now but long term not so much.
Neither battery nor water will solve that problem.

Pumped Hydro storage is good, but there are few good sites for it.
Turlough Hill is the only one in Ireland right now, and has a max theoretical capacity of about 1,500MWh, at an output of 293MW (i.e. it can run for 5 hours at full load.

Ireland uses on average 70,000MWh of electricity a day.
You'd need 45 more of them, just to cover 1 day*. But of course, calm wind can last for a while, you'd need to be able to handle a week or more of calm wind in winter.
Maybe it's possible to find the sites for 45 more Turlough hills. I doubt it though.

I've been explicitly citing electricity. We're looking to decarbonising our energy system, including transport, industrial use, etc... Means a massive increase in the use of electricity for electric vehicles and heating.

The world's largest battery facility is forecasted eventually to be 2,300MWh:

Batteries simply don't have anything close to the scale required.

Or you could simply have 2 Sizewell C plants, which would be able to cover all of Ireland's current average electricity demands. It's costing £20bn for it in the UK, but an awful lot of that cost is due to regulatory burden.

But 2 nuclear power plants of that scale means that in 10 years time, Ireland would have a 100% decarbonised electricity system and a large excess to use for a full net zero economy.




*Yes, I'm simplifying, wind won't be 100% of generating capacity. And output is unlikely to be zero. But at the same time, I've cited an average, not peak capacity, which is a very different affair and can be much, much higher.
 
EVENT GUIDE - HIGHLIGHT
Stand-up Comedy Club: Earlier Show
The Roundy, Castle St.

6th Jul 2024 @ 6:30 pm
More info..

Sing It Back!

Cantys, Tomorrow @ 9pm

More events ▼
Top