Nuclear - future for Ireland?

To consider nuclear we need a plan to keep the lights on for the next 20 years. And expand generation massively for decarbonisation.

Of course it's not going to be cheap. But it'll mostly be paid for by 2050 given the shorter timescale of renewables contracts.

Nuclear will require the same spend because we will still have to keep the lights on until it arrives. But by the time it arrived we won't need it.

Future baseload will be 5% as the grid will be able to handle up to 95% non-synch generators. That 5% will include things like CHP, biomass, biogas, hydro including pumped storage, waste to energy , energy to fuel, hydrogen and possibly tidal and geothermal and until 250 can include reducing amounts of legacy gas.

For the Nth time - Spinning reserve is not something nuclear can do.

https://www.sem-o.com/publications/general-publications

https://www.sem-o.com/sites/semo/files/2026-03/Wk14_2026_Weekly_Operational_Constraints_Update.pdf

To have nuclear on the grid you need to explain how you will replace 75% of the lost output within FIVE SECONDS.

The best reactor response is half an hour , but you then have to wait at least two hours before you can change again.

You also need to explain how you can provide backup for extended periods like scheduled outages for refuelling and maintenance, and unscheduled outages like where you didn't restart soon enough to avoid the Iodine Pit or where scheduled outages keep getting extended.

If a grid can survive nuclear being offline for a month for refuelling then having a weather forecast a week ahead for renewables is trivial.

Yet again , how do we keep the lights on for the next 20 years ?

I've posted many times before that if we had twice our renewables and storage and interconnectors you cloud put a 100% label on the 50% line in the System Non-Synchronous Penetration chart and see that most of the time we'd already be on the home straight.

The problem is that we don't have enough renewables.

16 years from tender to full commercial operation for the UAE plant.

They didn't have to overly worry about, planning regulations, legal challenges,environmental impact, protests, European working time directive, cold/wet weather affecting construction, regulations changing mid project cf UK and human rights etc.

https://pris.iaea.org/PRIS/CountryStatistics/ReactorDetails.aspx?current=1050

The first two full years for the first reactor had Annual Time On Line of 6763/6269 hours Which is 77% / 71%. Which means you'd need a lot of alternative power if you were depending on it.

Please explain how you propose to meet peek demand using nuclear - you might as well explain spinning reserve and local voltage control too.

And then explain how the grid infrastructure needed wouldn't allow renewables to be fully entrenched such that nuclear would have no role by the time it arrived.

Please explain how you would secure reasonably priced fuel rods or pellets or whatever for the life of the plant - if demand goes up they get more expensive and politics might bite hard later.

Who else in Western Europe other than Finland has increased nuclear in the last generation, and even get twice as much energy from recently added wind ? Other countries are moving faster, look at Greece or Portugal.

Base load will be gone forever. 5% tops and that will be handled by CHP , biomass, hydro , biogas, biomass , waste to energy and later perhaps tidal and geothermal. No role for nuclear.

In fact to have nuclear you would need spinning reserve which sounds like a job for fossil fuel , unless you can explain how to replace 75% of a nuclear plant's output within 5 SECONDS!!! and you can't use batteries because they aren't synchronous.

IMHO Nuclear power is fossil fuel through the back door , unless you can explain how you can do PEAKING daily and seasonal / SPINNING RESERVE - 75% in 5 seconds / BACKUP for multiple plants being offline at the same time as has happens way too often to ignore.

How do I get people to understand that nuclear plants spend a lot of time offline. The EPRs have a refuelling outage of 50 days. Compared to that 2-3 days or even a week without some renewables is walk in the park.

Today's EDF reactor status - https://www.edfenergy.com/energy/power-station/daily-statuses Only 5 out of 10 UK generators are at "Nominal full load" - How's that for "redundancy" ?

Nominal full load

Statutory outage until April 9 (from when ? )

Nominal full load - next outage May 2026

Nominal full load - next outage May 2026

Raising load following refuelling and graphite inspection outage

Nominal full load - next outage Sept 2026

Offline for refuelling - Expected return to service date March 27 2026

Reduced load due to gas circulator issue

Nominal full load

Raising load following forced outage