Blogging from the Bog

   The governments of both the North and the Republic, in co-ordination with their respective electrical energy providers, met their target today of having the Single Electricity Market come on line.  As mentioned in the April 21st post, this North-South interconnector puts aside any doubt that we are now operating on nuclear generated electricity.

   How odd that there was barely a mention in the media of this event even though, to sweeten the pot, the Electricity Supply Board announced a five percent reduction in the rate of household electric prices.  It got bumped out of the headlines I guess by a similar drop in house prices.  The €1 per week per household savings is not a big headline grabber; but, for the ESB to deny itself approximately €100 million a year should have been, they have never done that willingly before!

   Noel Dempsey was Minister of the Department at the time of the negotiation announcement I commented on in Ireland’s Nuclear Winter and if you follow the SEM link you will find that he promises cheaper electricity prices for the future because of these arrangements.

   In the early days of nuclear energy it was promised that the electricity generated in this fashion would be so inexpensive that it would hardly be worth metering.  Well that was the first big lie of the Nuclear Era and there have been many since.  Today both France and Japan are littered with nuclear generating stations and both have among the highest electricity prices in the world.  In 2001 we were up there with them for the dearest consumer costs and we were burning peat and coal!

   Japan, which continues to have the highest rates, despite having over fifty nuclear generators, also has 16 active volcanoes and several earthquakes a week.  It’s largest reactor Kashiwazaki Kariwa has been shut down since the earthquake in July which caused radiation leaks, deaths, and destruction to the plant, with a follow on fire that was scarcely reported on.  Look in that direction for an inevitable nuclear disaster.

   In addition to the interconnectors with the North and eventually with Wales, the ESB has had to promise to restrict energy production contrary to our national interest.  Great news all around.  It will not be too far into the future before the ESB is going to want to scrape back some of that one hundred million a year they are forfeiting for this Public Relations effort.