BENE - Better Environment with Nuclear Energy Link to website: http://www.bene.ie/BENE/Home.html
An example of the cost of not going nuclear The cost of not using nuclear power - a practical example To illustrate the long-term effects of national decisions in the energy sphere, consider the cases of Ireland and Finland. Both these countries proposed the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty in the 1960’s and were the first signatories of this treaty when it came into being in 1968. Within 12 years, Ireland had rejected nuclear power generation while Finland adopted it. Now, Finland has a balanced portfolio of fuels in its generation mix, producing around 30% from each of nuclear, hydro and coal, with the remainder mainly coming from gas. Ireland, on the other hand, has over 60% from gas, 14% from renewables and the remainder is from coal and peat. As a result, Finland emits only marginally more CO2 per head of population than Ireland while using twice as much energy than us. Critically, Irish households pay 50% more for their electricity than the Finns and our industry pays twice as much as Finnish industry for its electricity. This is a clear and practical illustration of the economic and environmental benefits that Ireland is passing up with its current prohibition of nuclear power.