asked the Minister for Transport and Power if he will state (a) the names of the members of the Nuclear Energy Board, (b) the date the board was established, (c) the number of meetings held by the board, (d) if the board has the necessary funds at its disposal to employ experts in the nuclear energy field, and (e) if any such experts have been employed to date.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Nuclear Energy Board.
23.
The members of an Bórd Fuinnimh Nucleigh (The Nuclear Energy Board) are: Professor Charles T.G. Dillon (Chairman), Professor Cyril F. Delaney, Dr. Thomas Murray, Professor Palmer Newbould, Dr. John E. O'Connor, Professor Eva Maria Philbin, Dr. Thomas Walsh.
The board was established in December, 1973. The arrangements for meetings of the board and matters such as the recruitment of staff are the responsibility of the board itself. I understand, however, that the board has met regularly throughout the past year and that the question of recruitment of necessary staff is in hands. The board is in receipt of a grant-in-aid of £40,000 in the current financial year.
Is the Minister aware that there is a great deal of apprehension and concern, most of which is genuine but some of which is created by self-appointed experts, about the establishment of a nuclear power station? Is the Minister satisfied that we have the necessary experts and that the Nuclear Energy Board have available to them the necessary experts to advise him on the wisdom or otherwise of establishing a nuclear power station?
The list of members I have read out is, by any standards, a very impressive list of people. At the moment they are in the process of recruiting the necessary expert staff for themselves. I am satisfied that that board and the staff they will recruit will be capable of advising me on all matters related to nuclear safety.
Is the Minister satisfied that the ESB will have available to them the necessary experts to ensure the safety and all the other matters concerned with the establishment of a nuclear station?
Yes, I am quite satisfied. I should say that the purpose of setting up this board and of putting such highly qualified people on it was to ensure that the ESB, and the Government, had such necessary expert advise available to them.
Has the Minister received as yet any advice from the Nuclear Energy Board?
The board have met regularly since they were established and they have been clearing their own minds on what line they would take and how they would organise the staff of the board. They have started recruiting staff and I understand that the first appointment will be announced shortly. This is the process of getting the board off the ground.
Is the Minister satisfied that the establishment of a nuclear power station or stations is essential here?
That is a very broad question and it would take me some time to answer it. I was satisfied that the rate of electricity growth demand prior to 1973 necessitated, in the long term, the establishment of a nuclear energy station. Since then, as the Deputy knows, things have changed.
People cannot afford to use electricity.
That is frivolous. In the long term nuclear energy will probably, as far as we can see now and we are looking a long time ahead, be the major source of cheap electricity supply. That situation can change. The Deputy may have seen an announcement by the chief executive officer of the ESB recently to the effect that, because of the difference in demand, growth rate between 1973 and the current time they have put further back their decision on the establishment of a nuclear station. They still have not discarded it and I would not wish that they would do so. I would like them to go ahead planning for this station though without coming to a firm conclusion as to when it should be established.
Do I take it from this that the establishment of such a station is quite a long time away?
It would be quite some years anyway because the lead-in time for a nuclear station is seven years. Even if we made the decision now to establish such a station it would be seven or eight years before it would be producing electricity. That seven or eight years is now further back as a result of the ESB not seeing a pattern in the growth rate for electricity at present.
(Dublin Central): Will the station be established before the end of the century?
If the Deputy asks me that question in another ten years I will be able to give him a reply.
Can the Minister tell us anything in regard to the possible development of wind power, solar energy, sea power, or any other alternative source of energy?
I have asked the ESB to examine all these alternative sources which would not have been economic up to the time of the oil crisis. I have asked them to reexamine any of the schemes that were put before them to see if they are now economic or if they could be used now.
In entrusting this examination to the ESB is the Minister satisfied that the ESB is the appropriate body seeing that they are primarily electricity producers?
These are methods of producing electricity and they have the necessary expertise to deal with these matters. I have said before that, while there has been a lot of criticism about the ESB, that body has been fairly successful in forecasting the demand and planning to meet the demands for the supply of electricity over 50 years.
I hope the Minister does not take it that I am criticising the ESB. In fact I am frequently on record as commending the ESB. I am wondering if some broader type of institution should not be looking at the overall energy situation and alternative sources of energy.
We cannot debate this large issue today.
What we are talking about is the production of electricity principally from wind generation, or from tidal waves, or smaller hydro schemes, or space heating and so on. It would be properly the function of the ESB to investigate it. I think they are the right body.
The Minister has taken that decision and it is now in train?
Can the Minister now give us an undertaking that the nuclear energy station will be on the western seaboard?
I could not give that undertaking.
Will the Minister give it to us now?
No.
Question No. 24.
(Interruptions.)
Deputy Browne is in a quandary. He is wearing two hats today.
I am between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Would it not be better to establish something new rather than dragging up something that is already established?
The Chair has called the next question.