Petrichor ᚄᚔᚅᚐᚁᚆᚃᚒᚔᚂ
TheJournal has a poll on whether Ireland should go nuclear or put on our big girl's pants and go strongly for renewables (my interpretation) https://www.thejournal.ie/poll-ireland-nuclear-power-ban-7031411-May2026/
#Ireland #Nuclear #Renewables #Poll
Poll: Should Ireland lift the ban on nuclear power?

Taoiseach Micheál Martin suggested Ireland could revisit its ban on nuclear power at a European summit yesterday.

TheJournal.ie
5:30amWeb
Show threadJoe Mansfield5h ago

@sinabhfuil

Online polls are highly susceptible to abuse and shouldn’t really be trusted but even so the numbers on this one are a bit depressing.

Regardless of anyone’s ideological position on nuclear those pushing for this should be honest about the commercial cost and risks. Hinkley Point just across the water there in the UK has ballooned from €20bn at contract award to at least €55bn now. And will have taken 18 years from initial award to the point where it starts producing any energy.

Show threadJoe Mansfield5h ago

@sinabhfuil

So if we are lucky we would get a new nuclear power station in 2044 that would give us about 25billion kWhr/annum, covering about €5/8bn in commercial revenue. So a payback time of 7-11 years at best, probably double that. In debt until 2051 at least.

Just using PV+batteries we could install 7million copies of my home PV install for that money to deliver 42billion kWhr per annum and be delivering some power from day 1. Fully paid for by 2040 or so. 🤷

Show threadStan Carey5h ago
@helvick @sinabhfuil Talk of nuclear may be a way for government to pretend to be taking energy security as seriously as they should be, without having to do the difficult (and, to some, distasteful) work of ramping up renewables massively and quickly, and phasing out fossil fuels as radically as is practicable. It's a potent distraction. Philip Boucher-Hayes's podcast on it from a few years ago is good: https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/22035642-ep-6-nuclear-fallout/
Show threadhrast5h ago
@sinabhfuil obliteration of capitalism is a form of green technology