Ireland should prepare for the possibility of using small modular nuclear reactors to achieve a zero-carbon energy system, which is a key part of decarbonising the Irish economy by 2050, according to the Irish Academy of Engineering .
How can I persuade the bank and Revenue that cash amounts I own were gifts from my mother, who died years ago?Five things revealed by the election results, including the astonishing cratering of Sinn Féin support Many countries are proposing SMRs alongside renewables to provide a secure zero-carbon electricity option. They are much cheaper than traditional nuclear plants and designed to be built in a factory, shipped to operational sites for installation and used to generate power or heat. They are also used to power ships and submarines.
If hydrogen proves unviable or too costly, there is no planned alternative; “far too many eggs are in the unproven basket”, he said. The UK is in a process of selecting the best SMR design from six prototypes. France recently committed €300 million through the nuclear generating company EDF to advance SMR options while Terrapower in the US founded by Bill Gates is due to begin construction of its Natrium-branded SMR this month, which is cooled with liquid sodium rather than water. The global race to develop SMRs is led by China, Russia and the US.
If other better ways to achieve zero carbon energy without SMRs were found, that preparatory work could be ended. The potential of SMRs has been downplayed at a policy level on the basis of a lack of nuclear expertise in Ireland, the IAE notes. “We didn’t have the expertise to build Ardnacrusha in the 1920s but did so nonetheless. There was no previous experience of building offshore wind farms when Airtricity decided to develop the 25MW Arklow project 20 years ago. We have no established expertise in hydrogen, yet it is central to Government policy.