A major seminar which took place in Dublin last week heard that in attempting combat climate change while securing energy supply, Ireland needs to consider looking to nuclear energy as a potential solution.

Speaking before the seminar on Thursday 27 September, Engineers Ireland Director General John Power said: "At our annual conference last year the Taoiseach urged engineers to explore the options for Ireland’s future energy supply. The Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan echoed this earlier this year when he called for a debate on the possible role of nuclear energy in Ireland."

He continued: "Nuclear power is proposed internationally as a potential solution to the world’s diminishing fossil fuels supply. As engineers we have a responsibility to debate the various options and propose solutions to develop new energy sources which may or may not include nuclear energy in the Irish case."

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Speaking at the seminar Richard Ivens (European Atomic Forum) argued that: "Meeting electricity demand and CO2 targets simultaneously requires all low-carbon sources to be utilised - renewable, clean coal and nuclear."

Frank Turvey, former Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, assistant chief executive, said that nuclear energy is better for environment than fossil fuels and furthermore can provide a secure fuel supply.

"The Government’s White Paper on Energy set targets for the generation of electricity using renewable energy to reach 33 per cent of the total by 2020 and set the limit using gas in the generation of electricity 50 per cent. If the remaining 17 per cent of electricity was generated by nuclear instead of coal, seven million tonnes per year of CO2 emissions could be avoided."

The seminar was addressed by several Irish and international experts and aimed to objectively explore the potential of nuclear energy, taking into account the most recent international policy and technical developments in the area.

(JM)