Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 364: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his plans to incorporate non-domestically-generated nuclear energy into the State's energy mix once the safety review of nuclear plants based in the EU is concluded. [9532/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The position of successive Governments over many years is that nuclear power is neither sustainable nor the answer to meeting Ireland's energy needs. This position is shared by several EU Member States. The Lisbon Treaty legally provides for individual Member States to determine their own energy mix.

The use of nuclear fission for the generation of electricity in Ireland is statutorily prohibited under Section 18(6) of the Electricity Regulation Act 1999. Furthermore, Section 3 of the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006 states that "Nothing in this Act shall be construed as enabling the authorisation of development consisting of an installation for the generation of electricity by nuclear fission".

These prohibitions do not include the importation of electricity generated by nuclear energy elsewhere. Legal advice received by my Department states that such a prohibition, even if realistically implementable, would in any event be in breach of Article 34 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which prohibits quantitative restrictions on imports and all measures having equivalent effect between Member States.

It is not technically feasible to guarantee that electricity imported over an interconnector is not generated from nuclear sources. It is not possible to distinguish the flow of electricity across interconnectors by reference to the original source of supply or generation.

Ireland currently imports electricity from time to time from Northern Ireland, which is in turn linked to the UK electricity market via the Moyle Interconnector. Electricity imports from the UK will be increased with the completion of the East West Interconnector in 2012. It is the case that nuclear generation forms part of the overall UK generation fuel mix.

The safety audit of nuclear plants in the European is being conducted in response to the Fukushima accident in Japan and falls within the nuclear safety remit of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Criteria for the review are due to be agreed in May by the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group, where the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) represents Ireland. The Government is strongly supportive of a rigorous and transparent safety audit of nuclear facilities in Europe including reprocessing facilities such as Sellafield.