Like it or not, nuclear is now the only option
Like his predecessors in that ministry, Mr Roche appears to have an obsession with nuclear technology, claiming the nuclear industry carries with it environmental, proliferation and safety hazards.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Three Mile Island was a minor technical hitch while Chernobyl was due to faulty Russian design. The most famous Green of our time, James Lovelock, founder of the Gaia movement, is now an ardent supporter of nuclear energy. He maintains, rightly, that electricity generation from nuclear plants is the only way to combat carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants.
The French have no difficulty with their nuclear power plants given that 70% of power generation there is nuclear-derived.
Like it or not, nuclear power is back on the agenda in Britain, mainland Europe and the US as a good alternative to fossil fuels for power generation.
Patrick L O’Brien
Clogheen
Kerry Pike
Cork
