Britain's future power shortage could spill over on Ireland

[wombat]

We recently announced a cost price of €3.45 billion for the first phase of the S of I project.

That is a huge cost - its in the nuclear range.

[fiannafailure]

That is a huge cost - its in the nuclear range.

wombat

A third generation nuke with the same output would cost a mimimum of €6 billion.

Both would reduce our reliance on hydrocarbons.

Building large scale electricity storage is on the wish list of virtually every government in the world at the moment, but not ours, yet.

If Ireland were ever to build a nuclear power station, it could only become economical if it were accompanied by a large pumped storage unit.

That €3.45 billion is dwarfed by the UK requirement to spend in excess of £200 billion over the next 10 years providing for their electricity needs, and make no mistake, it must be spent, which is why our initial market is Britain.

[Cut Once]

wombat

A third generation nuke with the same output would cost a mimimum of €6 billion.

Both would reduce our reliance on hydrocarbons.

Building large scale electricity storage is on the wish list of virtually every government in the world at the moment, but not ours, yet.

If Ireland were ever to build a nuclear power station, it could only become economical if it were accompanied by a large pumped storage unit.

That €3.45 billion is dwarfed by the UK requirement to spend in excess of £200 billion over the next 10 years providing for their electricity needs, and make no mistake, it must be spent, which is why our initial market is Britain.

Pat,

You're way off with the €6 billion cost estimate for nuclear - the true figure would be closer to €1.5 billion.

A Nuclear plant in the region of 300 to 700 MW wouldn't need a storage plant to be economical, but it would be a great help. Cheap storage would help all electricity systems.

A large portion of the €200 billion spend in the UK will be on wind turbines, offshore and onshore. And while you are probably right to concentrate on the British market for your sales, that will probably make the task of developing the storage in Ireland that much more problematic.

Not that any of this could be built in Ireland with our current planning system and the political patronage endemic to our fair and pleasant land.

[fiannafailure]

Pat,

You're way off with the €6 billion cost estimate for nuclear - the true figure would be closer to €1.5 billion.

A Nuclear plant in the region of 300 to 700 MW wouldn't need a storage plant to be economical, but it would be a great help. Cheap storage would help all electricity systems.

A large portion of the €200 billion spend in the UK will be on wind turbines, offshore and onshore. And while you are probably right to concentrate on the British market for your sales, that will probably make the task of developing the storage in Ireland that much more problematic.

Not that any of this could be built in Ireland with our current planning system and the political patronage endemic to our fair and pleasant land.

Cut Once

I will argue the toss about the costs of a nuclear plant at a later time, maybe you might point me in the direction of a third generation design along the sizes you mentioned.

You surely don't advocate building old tech, perhaps though the latest Toshiba designs are in your mind.

I estimate that the spend on nuclear in the UK will be pretty close to eighty billion, provided it happens in the next decade at all.

And S of I have been working on the planning system now for quite some time, what is the problem with taking lots of UK pounds and putting them into the pockets of the shareholders of S of I, who will after all consist mostly of the plain people of Ireland.

Cut Once, good luck with the new website.