Nuclear power - Time has come for calm debate

DEBATE on whether or not Ireland should go nuclear has been kick-started by one of the country’s leading educationalists, who yesterday made the surprising claim that, compared to other means of production, atomic energy is safe.

According to Dr Ed Walsh, a strong supporter of nuclear power, “the facts are quite unambiguous”.

He told an energy conference at the University of Limerick, which explored the energy problem facing the region and the cost of ignoring it, that nuclear reactors do not emit carbon gasses and so do not contribute to global warming; that “death statistics” show hydroelectric and coal are the most dangerous; that gas is safer; but that nuclear is “safest of all”.