Europe to become increasingly reliant on nuclear power, says NTR

NUCLEAR power is on the way back in a major way and will be Europe’s main source of energy in the coming years, NTR’s chief executive Jim Barry predicted yesterday.

Nuclear power accounts for one third of Europe’s energy today. Coal accounts for another third and the remainder is produced by a mix of the other resources particularly gas.

However, he said gas was running out very quickly and by 2025 only two major sources - Russia and the Caucasus - would remain.

Alternative sources of energy would also claim a much bigger share of the market but the sector would be dominated by nuclear power, he said.

“There’s going to be a pile of it,” he said. But he added that he did not think nuclear stations would be developed in Ireland.

NTR is a leading Irish-based private sector developer and operator of public infrastructure including the East-Link Toll-bridge in Dublin. In recent years it has diversified into new sectors including the supply of electricity through Airtricity and greenstar. It has also invested in waste management and broadband and has significant development in the pipeline for Cork.

Mr Barry, speaking at the Cork Chamber of Commerce monthly business breakfast organised in association with the Irish Examiner, said there were a number of major infrastructure issues facing Ireland.

These included an energy policy vacuum, greenhouse gas emissions, security of supply and the ESB’s dominance of the market.

Ireland was extraordinarily vulnerable from an energy emissions’ point of view. Mr Barry warned that the country was facing fines of hundreds of millions of euro over emissions.

He pointed out that over the last 40 years sea ice in the Arctic had dramatically reduced because of global warming. Mr Barry said the only person that does not appreciate the extent of the problem is the president of the US.

He stressed the need for the policymakers to address the ESB’s dominance of the energy market.

Privatisation of the ESB was not the answer, he said adding that there was only one thing worse than a public monopoly and that was a private monopoly.