{"id":432942,"date":"2026-05-05T05:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T05:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/432942\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T05:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T05:55:08","slug":"examining-nuclear-power-options-for-ireland-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/432942\/","title":{"rendered":"Examining nuclear power options for Ireland \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir \u2013 In his article reporting the Taoiseach\u2019s comments on Ireland examining the option of nuclear power, your correspondent repeats the apocryphal notion that small modular reactors (SMRs) have lowered the high bar required to build nuclear power plants in terms of time and cost (\u201cIreland should \u2018examine seriously\u2019 nuclear power option, says Taoiseach<\/a>\u201d, Politics, May 4th).<\/p>\n

SMRs have been the nuclear industry\u2019s next shiny dream for as long as I can remember. The problem is that, outside of a few and highly unproven prototypes, they still exist largely in the imagination of the nuclear industry and its supporters.<\/p>\n

We should absolutely have a debate on the merits of nuclear power, but we should do so on the basis of facts. The primary benefit of nuclear power is its economies of scale; that is, it must be large.<\/p>\n

The most relevant example for our purposes is Hinkley Point C in the United Kingdom, which has so far been estimated to cost up to \u00a350 billion. It is also beset with delays and will not be delivered until at least 25 years after it was announced \u2013 and that is in a country with a long-established nuclear power industry.<\/p>\n

I suspect the most appropriate solution for Ireland will be to import nuclear power from France via the Celtic Interconnector, while at the same time exporting our renewable electricity. \u2013 Yours, etc,<\/p>\n

GAVIN DALY,<\/p>\n

Mountjoy,<\/p>\n

Dublin 1.<\/p>\n

Sir, \u2013 Fianna F\u00e1il TD James O\u2019Connor has proposed legislation to reverse Ireland\u2019s ban on nuclear energy. It is always heartening to see our legislators plan for the distant future.<\/p>\n

And distant it shall be. If the children\u2019s hospital and MetroLink have taught us anything, it is that Ireland\u2019s relationship with infrastructure is less a sprint, or indeed a marathon, than a multigenerational relay race. <\/p>\n

Based on current form, the ribbon-cutting ceremony for any Irish nuclear plant would be attended by our AI overlords and Homo procrastinatus: an evolved human species with considerably cheaper energy bills, one assumes, and no memory of being promised delivery by 2031.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I trust we will all continue to enjoy expensive electricity with quiet dignity. \u2013 Yours, etc,<\/p>\n

DAN O\u2019NEILL,<\/p>\n

Ballybricken,<\/p>\n

Co Limerick. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir \u2013 In his article reporting the Taoiseach\u2019s comments on Ireland examining the option of nuclear power, your…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-432942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}