The Sellafield nuclear site on the edge of the Irish Sea in Cumbria poses no health risk to Ireland, according to a report commissioned by the Government. Even the worst-case incident such as a massive explosion would not produce “observable health effects in Ireland”, the report states.
Put together over several years by eight mostly US experts, the report was released yesterday by Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan.
The ESB has told an Oireachtas committee that nuclear power is not needed in Ireland for the foreseeable future.
Fluctuating oil prices and climate change have led to calls for a debate on nuclear energy as a way to end Ireland's dependence on fossil fuels.
However, ESB chief executive Padraig McManus told the Oireachtas committee on energy and natural resources today that Ireland could comfortably meet its energy demands if clean-coal technology and inter-connection with other countries is implemented successfully.
IRELAND WILL not be able to achieve a 50 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2050 if the Government continues to rule out the "nuclear option", according to the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Nobuo Tanaka, who will address an Asia-Europe Foundation forum on energy sustainability in Dublin today, told The Irish Times he realised that nuclear power was "taboo" here - mainly because of Sellafield.
Irish people are exposed to higher levels of radiation than previously thought, with the latest figures from the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) showing nine per cent greater exposure than had been recorded.
The most comprehensive study ever undertaken by the RPII has found that Irish exposure to radiation is more than one third higher than the international average and that the cancer causing gas radon is the primary source of radiation exposure in Ireland.
A nuclear plant built at a cost of £470m to provide atomic fuel to be used in foreign power stations has produced almost nothing since it was opened six years ago, the government has admitted.
The mixed oxide (Mox) facility at Sellafield in Cumbria - which was opposed by green groups as uneconomic - was originally predicted to have an annual throughput of 120 tonnes of fuel.
Ministers on both sides of the border are calling for the island of Ireland to be made a nuclear-free zone.
Sun, Dec 02, 2007 - Prospectors have been banned from mining the hills of Donegal (Ireland) for the nuclear fuel uranium, it emerged today.
The Minister for Natural Resources Eamon Ryan refused to grant exploration licences to two companies with their eyes set on some of the county's most wild and scenic areas.
The Green Party TD said he declined the recent applications as part of a wider stance against nuclear power in Ireland and in the UK.
Vienna - High-ranking European government officials, representing anti-nuclear states Austria, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Italy, Luxembourg, and Latvia, called Monday for alternatives to a renaissance of nuclear energy.
The group met in Vienna on Sunday and Monday to forge a joint declaration against nuclear energy. At a press conference, the participating politicians called for more investment into energy efficiency measures and renewable energies.
