Let’s get real about nuclear option

WELL done to Patrick O’Brien (Letters, April 5) for clearly stating the compelling case to consider nuclear power for Ireland.

We face two major problems — global warming and peak oil and gas — which leave us with very few options for our future energy supply. Remember we are currently 90% dependent on imported fossil fuels which will become scarcer and therefore more expensive.

There is a place for renewable energy, such as wind power, but it does not supply the steady, reliable electricity that nuclear power can provide: wind power electricity has a load factor of about 30% whereas nuclear electricity has about 85%.