Carnsore Point (
Carn tSóir in
IrishIrish is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now only spoken natively by a small minority of the Irish population but also plays an important symbolic role in the life of the Irish state, and is used...
) is a headland in the very South East corner of
County WexfordCounty Wexford is one of the traditional counties of Ireland and is located within the province of Leinster. It was named after the town of Wexford . In pre-Norman times it was part of the Kingdom of Uí Cheinnsealaig, whose capital was at Ferns...
,
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
.
It is famous for being the proposed location of the
Nuclear Energy BoardThe Nuclear Energy Board was an Irish agency charged with developing nuclear power in Ireland.It was established in Ireland on November 30, 1973 by the . The board was responsible in the 1970s for pursuing the policy of developing a nuclear power station, which was to be located at Carnsore Point,...
power plant which was to be built in the 1970s. The plan would have produced electricity for the
Electricity Supply BoardThe Electricity Supply Board , is a semi-state electricity company in Ireland. While historically a monopoly, the ESB now operates as a commercial semi-state concern in a liberalised and competitive market.The ESB is composed of several distinct, separate and legally demarcated companies...
.
Originating in 1968, the
Irish GovernmentThe Government of Ireland is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Government is headed by a prime minister called the Taoiseach, and a deputy prime minister called the Tánaiste. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President after being designated by Dáil Éireann...
gave renewed effort to the plans after the 1973 energy crisis. The plan envisaged one, and eventually four,
nuclear powerNuclear power is power produced from controlled nuclear reactions. Commercial plants in use to date use nuclear fission reactions....
stations, but was (discreetly) dropped in the late 1970s after opposition by environmental groups.
The anti-nuclear groups organised a series of free concerts at Carnsore Point in 1978 (18-20 August) and 1979.
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Carnsore Point (
Carn tSóir in
IrishIrish is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now only spoken natively by a small minority of the Irish population but also plays an important symbolic role in the life of the Irish state, and is used...
) is a headland in the very South East corner of
County WexfordCounty Wexford is one of the traditional counties of Ireland and is located within the province of Leinster. It was named after the town of Wexford . In pre-Norman times it was part of the Kingdom of Uí Cheinnsealaig, whose capital was at Ferns...
,
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
.
It is famous for being the proposed location of the
Nuclear Energy BoardThe Nuclear Energy Board was an Irish agency charged with developing nuclear power in Ireland.It was established in Ireland on November 30, 1973 by the . The board was responsible in the 1970s for pursuing the policy of developing a nuclear power station, which was to be located at Carnsore Point,...
power plant which was to be built in the 1970s. The plan would have produced electricity for the
Electricity Supply BoardThe Electricity Supply Board , is a semi-state electricity company in Ireland. While historically a monopoly, the ESB now operates as a commercial semi-state concern in a liberalised and competitive market.The ESB is composed of several distinct, separate and legally demarcated companies...
.
Originating in 1968, the
Irish GovernmentThe Government of Ireland is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Government is headed by a prime minister called the Taoiseach, and a deputy prime minister called the Tánaiste. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President after being designated by Dáil Éireann...
gave renewed effort to the plans after the 1973 energy crisis. The plan envisaged one, and eventually four,
nuclear powerNuclear power is power produced from controlled nuclear reactions. Commercial plants in use to date use nuclear fission reactions....
stations, but was (discreetly) dropped in the late 1970s after opposition by environmental groups.
The anti-nuclear groups organised a series of free concerts at Carnsore Point in 1978 (18-20 August) and 1979. Titled "Get To The Point" and "Back To The Point" respectively, the concerts were a massive success and served to bring to public notice the whole question of nuclear power in Ireland.
Today Carnsore Point is home to a number of
wind generating stationsA wind turbine is a rotating machine which converts the kinetic energy of wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used directly by machinery, such as a pump or grinding stones, the machine is usually called a windmill...
, run by a subsidiary of the
Electricity Supply BoardThe Electricity Supply Board , is a semi-state electricity company in Ireland. While historically a monopoly, the ESB now operates as a commercial semi-state concern in a liberalised and competitive market.The ESB is composed of several distinct, separate and legally demarcated companies...
. It opened in 2003 and consists of 14 Vestas 850 kW turbines for a capacity of just under 12 MW.
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