Should Ireland be looking at nuclear power as an option to meet future demands for energy?
As Ireland looks for alternative energy supplies, the controversial issue of nuclear power is again up for debate.
Ireland it would seem is poised on the brink of nuclear power.
With supplies of fossil fuels such as oil and coal running low, Ireland is looking at the option of nuclear power. An informed debate is now needed on the subject. Other potential alternative sources of power, wind, waves and the sun are not developed enough to cope with the demand on energy in high population areas.
Dessie O'Malley addressing the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis on the safety of nuclear power stations calls for an informed debate on the issue.
We don't want members of the flat earth society shooting off on a tangent with obscurantist views which bear no relation to reality.
He points to cities like Boston, Chicago and New York, where nuclear stations have been working around the clock for the last 25 years without difficulty.
Opposition voices say that the risk of nuclear power is too high. David P Nolan, part of the group Nuclear Safety Association of Wexford asks about the lack of scientific certainty on the safety of nuclear reactors.
As long as radioactivity can get into the environment, danger exists.
This episode of 'Newsround' was broadcast on 12 March 1978. The presenter is Peter McNiff.
