BENE seeks a Better Environment with Nuclear Energy.
Our primary objectives are to bring balance to the Irish energy debate where nuclear power is concerned and to have nuclear power considered as a possible energy source here.
Our core group members are listed below. We are entirely voluntary and are not aligned to any political party or enterprise of any sort.
We also have a large amount of support from all sectors of Irish society. While some have a technical background and others are academic, we truly welcome support from all members of the public who agree that nuclear power should be considered here. Please become a supporter – it is free and is open to all.
BENE core group members
…..in alphabetical order:
Denis Duff is a Chartered Engineer with wide experience of a variety of electricity generating systems, including wind turbines and generators powered by fossil fuels (oil, gas and solid fuel). He now works independently in the energy sector both at home and abroad.
David Robert Grimes is a scientist with a keen interest in the public understanding of science. He writes on science and society for various outlets, discusses and debates topics as diverse as vaccination and climate-change on news media, and gives talks across the world on the importance of evidence in society. Joint winner of the 2014 Nature / Sense About Science Maddox Prize for standing up for Science, David keeps an Ockham award-nominated science and medicine blog at www.davidrobertgrimes.com
Ian McAulay has a background in health physics and has been extensively involved in measurements of radioactivity in the environment and in radiation protection. He was heavily involved in the nuclear debate thirty years ago and at that time was one of the Irish scientists trying to correct imbalances in the media coverage.
Jim Morrissey is a former research technician with experience in both nuclear and hydrogen laboratories. He worked in high temperature and high pressure materials testing where he shares a patent on Hydrogen storage systems. He has extensive experience in data acquisition and measurement techniques. His final five years in research was in a nuclear medical project. He is a graduate of the MII and has experience of management in Ireland’s manufacturing sector.
Tom O’Flaherty, a Chartered Engineer, is the former Chief Executive of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland and of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (formerly the Institution of Electrical Engineers). In his earlier career he worked on wind energy, energy conservation, heat pumps, and oil and gas exploration. While with An Foras Taluntais (now Teagasc) in the 1980s he had responsibility for Ireland’s first EU-funded Demonstration Project on wind energy.
Frank Turvey is the former Assistant Chief Executive of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland and, on retirement, was a member of its Board. He is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, Fellow of the Institute of Physics, Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering and Fellow of the Institute of Nuclear Engineers. Frank’s involvement with Irish nuclear energy goes back to the original proposal for a nuclear power plant to be built at Carnsore Point, Co Wexford.
Philip Walton received his degrees in physics from Trinity College Dublin. He then worked in the Department of Clinical Physics and Bioengineering (WRHB, Glasgow, Scotland). In 1968 he joined the Medical College of Virginia, USA, where he was Chairman of the Radiation Physics Division. In 1978 he became Professor of Applied Physics at NUI, Galway. He retired in 2005 and is now Emeritus Professor. He served for seven years on the Board of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland. He has served as Radiological Protection Officer both at MCV and NUI, Galway.
When you advodcate nuclear power Do you mean a molten salt type such as the Liquid Flouride Thorium Reactor being promoted by Mr Kirk Sorensen?
At this stage, we’re in favour of any safe, licensed design that is affordable. This includes molten salt reactors, of course.
We think the first modern small reactor to be licensed will be the NuScale 60MWe module, so that is prominent in our thinking, but we keep a keen eye on other designs as they progress through licensing.