Stewart ‘upset’ by pro-nuclear comments

ENVIRONMENTALIST Duncan Stewart conceded yesterday he was “upset” at options being put forward for nuclear energy when he walked out of a conference on Thursday.

At an energy conference in the University of Limerick, the television presenter repeatedly shook his head during a pro-nuclear talk given by the university’s former president Dr Ed Walsh.

Mr Stewart said yesterday he was upset by the comments. He returned to the venue yesterday and warned Ireland was facing a major energy crisis but argued the so-called nuclear option was not the way to tackle it.

Mr Stewart said: “There is a huge energy crisis on the way and we need to find solutions to suit our country — the nuclear option is not the way forward. It does not fit our situation for a small population.

“We must look at renewable energy which we are not using. We need to harness wind and tides. We have huge potential and if we used these energy options we could reach a situation where we could become an exporter of energy to the rest of Europe.”

Spiralling oil prices, he advised, are going to cause an immediate major energy problem within the next year due to rising electricity prices. The Government, he said, was showing no leadership in the energy crisis now facing the country due to our dependence on imported fuel.

A sustainable strategy, he said, must be put in place immediately to ‘‘future- proof’’ our energy requirements.

Mr Stewart said: “I have heard the nuclear argument many times and it is always the same. There are very powerful vested interests in the nuclear industry pushing the nuclear agenda. But it is only diverting from the real issue and the solutions.

“We are only wasting our time discussing it as it does not fit into our future strategy regarding energy. We have the solutions, if we only started using them.”

Huge energy was being wasted in power plants such as Moneypoint in Co Clare, Mr Stewart claimed. “Two-thirds of the heat goes into the sea in the cooling process,” he said.

Dr Martin Leahy, who chaired the conference organised by the Limerick Clare Energy Agency, said the main consensus of the two-day meeting was that renewable energy was the way forward.