Nuclear - future for Ireland?

EU begging members not to retire nuclear

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/eu-warn-against-early-nuclear-exits-effort-address-energy-crisis-2026-04-21/

So the absolute worst reactor tech you could find from your own screenshots is still multiple of wind and solar thanks for furthering my point

your offshore wind farm will be rebuilt 3-4 times in the lifetime of that reactor as seas are harsh

That’s if anything is built in Ireland, as per recent news there is serious opposition to Eiffel tower sized turbines polluting our coasts and the sea and wind too rough off the west coast so they will have to go in Dublin bay where even more people would oppose em

But keep cherrypicking it’s funny how many own goals are made

The U.K. has 6 wind farms in the Irish Sea. Their 12 month rolling capacity is 36%

Of the 3 licensed here for the Irish Sea (Codling Wind, Dublin Array and North Irish Sea Array) plus Tonn Nua the installed capacity is 3.524 GW and North Irish Sea Array is looking dodgy due to an SPA, fishing grounds and depths of 60 meters.

The estimated capital cost of Dublin Array rose by 40% in the two years to 2025 to €2.1 Bn. So based on that increase the capital cost of all four for an installed capacity of 3.524 GW would be €9 Bn. €2.77 Bn per 1 GW of installed capacity. At 36% capacity factor the capital cost of I GW would be €7.08 Bn. At 42% capacity factor €6.07 Bn.

Those are the capital cost for just 20 years . The hidden capital costs are that they would be torn down after that time, similar to what we have seen onshore, and two further rounds of capital costs would be required to cover the lifetime of a nuclear plant. That would bring the real capital costs to €21.24 Bn for a 36% capacity factor or €18.21 for 42% plus inflation. The capital cost of Hinkley C, the most expensive nuclear plant those opposed could find, at 88% capacity factor for the same as those 4 wind farms even at 42% and no need to worry about weather or messing around with very expensive green hydrogen to fill gaps when wind is doing little or nothing.

The estimated figures being bandied around here for offshore wind are very far removed from the real world figures of similar for the likes of Empire Wind or Taiwan`s Hai Long.

Btw in 2025 we generated 25.2 TWh of electricity from gas, not 18 TWh. Had we not imported 14.6% of our electricity that figure would have been 33.8 TWh.

Green hydrogen was being factored in for renewables, in our case wind being intermittent and unreliable due to weather conditions. Nuclear would not have a problem with supply due to weather conditions here.

The hydrogen nonsense has now changed somewhat to mirror the high capacity factors nonsense were were being fed on floating Atlantic wind farms in that we would be producing it to sell it instead of that Atlantic wind to others in Europe. One country I bizarrely see as a possibility is France who export large volumes of electricity, who if they needed hydrogen would have a much more effective means of producing using nuclear than us using wind to do so.

For nuclear you can ignore backup costs and fuel type, construction embedded CO2, failed projects, long term spent fuel storage and reactor decommissioning costs.

Only reactor costs in distant lands matter.

All other costs apply to renewables though. Just wanna make sure you know the mob rules.

top of the morning! Another beautiful sunny and breezy day

Producing 11x the co2 of France 🇫🇷

While you consume your morning croissants consider

https://www.lesechos.fr/idees-debats/cercle/plus-il-fait-beau-plus-ca-coute-cher-le-modele-de-soutien-aux-renouvelables-est-dune-perversite-documentee-2228322

Use google translate if needed but article explicitly calls out the perverse contract for difference model across the EU countries which is ensuring renewables lead to high prices and costs for consumers and states

top of the morning! Another beautiful sunny and breezy day

Your constant nitpicking reminds me of what David McWilliams said about nitpickers the other day..

The U.K. has 6 wind farms in the Irish Sea. Their 12 month rolling capacity is 36%

Don't they have more like 10 wind farms, and their capacity is closer to 45%?

The estimated capital cost of Dublin Array rose by 40% in the two years to 2025 to €2.1 Bn. So based on that increase the capital cost of all four for an installed capacity of 3.524 GW would be €9 Bn. €2.77 Bn per 1 GW of installed capacity. At 36% capacity factor the capital cost of I GW would be €7.08 Bn. At 42% capacity factor €6.07 Bn.

Figures I have seen are:

Dublin Array - €2Billion plus

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2025/02/26/2bn-dublin-bay-wind-energy-project-to-submit-planning-application/

Codling - €3 Billion
https://www.pleanala.ie/publicaccess/EIAR-NIS/320768/Environmental%20Impact%20Assessment%20Report%20(EIAR)/Volume%204%20Appendices/Chapter%2029%20Population/Appendix%2029.3%20Economic%20Impact%20Analysis.pdf

North Irish Sea - €2Billion plus

https://www.northirishseaarray.ie/

So about €7 Billion, possibly a bit more.

That would generate approx 11,000 GWh if you are looking at capacity factor of approx 45%

Tonn Nua is in the Atlantic, so capacity factor there could be in the 50-55% range.
It would cost anything from €2 billion to €3 billion

It would generate about 3,900 GWh.

So you are close to 15,0000 GWh per year, which is almost the same total Gas usage we have at the moment.

Those are the capital cost for just 20 years .

Can you share me some documents from any of the projects that state this? I cant find any. The baseline of windfarms is in the 25-30 year range.

The capital cost of Hinkley C, the most expensive nuclear plant those opposed could find, at 88% capacity factor for the same as those 4 wind farms even at 42% and no need to worry about weather or messing around with very expensive green hydrogen to fill gaps when wind is doing little or nothing.

How much would a nuclear power plant cost in Ireland, and how long would it take to build and start generating electricity?

Btw in 2025 we generated 25.2 TWh of electricity from gas, not 18 TWh. Had we not imported 14.6% of our electricity that figure would have been 33.8 TWh.

Those figures seem made up.

https://www.greencollective.io/post/annual-recap-2025

Gas accounted for 42.8% of generation in 2025
All-Ireland demand in 2025 was approx 38,000 GWh

So 42.8% of that is 16,264 GWh, nowhere near 25.2 TWh

offshore has a design life of 35 years not 20 and that 35 can be extended….. what onshore wind is torn down at 20 years?

Bellacorick Wind Farm was one of the first in Ireland, and was only decommissioned this year. That's 34 years of service.

Crockahenny is next on the list that is 28 years and still standing.

not bad considering the way technology has evolved.

Peak solar record smashed today. About 100MW over the last record set a month ago. Dare I say that record will be broken multiple times over this summer.

Little girls sharing the same lines.

• Interconnectors don't generate electricity
• Ireland most expensive electricity in the universe
• France
• Finland
• CO2 emissions
• Ignore costs like £10 Billion per reactor to decommission

Nothing positive so say at all. More than likely are climate change deniers. Also likely to oppose abstracting water from the Shannon without having the intelligence to realise how much harder it will be to get planning for nuclear power.

180g co2 today compared to 22 in nuclear France and 53 in kinda nuclear Finland

Rookie numbers!

Now off I go to get some sun in garden as might not see it for a while