Ministers' Energy Blueprint Includes Six Nuclear Plants

Jul 10 - Daily Mail; London (UK)

Six new nuclear power stations and a fivefold increase in electricity generated from wind, solar and tidal sources will form key planks of an Energy Review unveiled by the Government tomorrow.

Labour will also order a crackdown on power used at home with manufacturers told to phase out standby buttons on televisions and stereos which cost Britain Pounds 740million a year in wasted electricity.

Meanwhile, fridges, washing machines and cookers that are not energy efficient may be withdrawn from sale.

Another key proposal will be to build a 10mile-wide tidal barrier across the River Severn, costing Pounds 15billion.

It could produce as much energy as three nuclear power plants over the next 200 years by funnelling water through 200 turbines.

The plan will form the centrepiece of the Government's pledge to increase the amount of energy produced from renewable sources from four per cent to 20 per cent, which it hopes will placate opponents of nuclear power.

In a reversal of Labour's last energy review in 2003, the latest 120-page document concludes nuclear power is now a key component of electricity generation.

A leaked draft states: 'Based on a range of possible scenarios, the economics of nuclear now look more positive than at the time of the 2003 Energy White paper.' It adds: 'Government considers that nuclear should have a role to play in the future of the UK generating mix, alongside other low carbon-generating options.' The review will rule out subsidies for nuclear power and say market forces will determine the number of stations.

But Whitehall sources say that planning law will be simplified to make it easier to build them. Six new plants, likely to be built on existing sites, are envisaged by the Department of Trade and Industry.

The review says Britain must plug a 30 per cent shortfall in energy needs caused by the impending closure of coal, gas and nuclear power plants.

However, in a critical report today, the Trade and Industry Select Committee will accuse the Government of making decisions too quickly.

It also attacks ministers for a 'woeful' failure too get to grips with the long-term storage of nuclear waste.

The MPs conclude: 'The potential energy gap faced by the Government will not be as severe as that which the current Energy Review assumes.

'A full and proper assessment of the projected future generating capacity should have been conducted to inform debate before the Government undertook its review.' The MPs say the Government 'would have to ensure that nuclear power did not receive preferential treatment, either in the planning system, or in the long-term carbon pricing mechanism'.

Committee chairman Peter Luff said: 'It is vital that the Government's energy policy is based on a full consideration of the evidence and has broad political and public support otherwise, we risk repeating the mistakes of the past.

'However, the Government's Energy Review risks being seen as little more than a rubber- stamping exercise for a decision the Prime Minister took some time ago.' A former Government adviser yesterday denounced the review as a 'sham'.

Stephen Hale, who was special adviser to Margaret Beckett when she was Environment Secretary, said Mr Blair 'refused to consider the alternatives' to nuclear energy.

'The depressing truth is that the review was undertaken primarily to act as a springboard to formally initiate the Government's nuclear position,' says Mr Hale, now director of the Green Alliance think-tank.

Last week, Tory leader David Cameron said his party would develop a new generation of nuclear power stations only as a 'last resort'. But yesterday his trade and industry spokesman Alan Duncan said they would not stop construction of nuclear plants if they won power.

A survey of more than 1,000 adults yesterday suggested any attempt to win the public around to nuclear power would be a struggle.

Only 16 per cent would describe it as 'very safe', the GMTV poll found.

Almost three quarters would be worried if a nuclear plant was built near them. Given the prospect of nuclear power, the majority opted for renewable sources of energy.

Half said Britain's future energy solution should include more efficient coal and gas fired power stations with only 38 per cent wanting nuclear power to play a part.

t.shipman@dailymail.co.uk