Barcelona (Platts)--11Mar2010/644 am EST/1144 GMT

A large group of academics, politicians, planners and environmentalists called Thursday for the UK government to hold a public inquiry into the justification for new nuclear reactors in the UK.

Claiming that key issues surrounding the safety of the reactors and the management and disposal of the nuclear waste they would generate are yet to be resolved, the 80-strong group said the decision on justification required a more involved debate than the government had given it so far.

The justification process, required under the 2004 law called The Justification of Practices Involving Ionizing Radiation, allows for the Secretary of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change to hold an inquiry, but it does not specify its nature or form.

"Once the justification decision has been taken it will be all but impossible to re-open major issues of policy on nuclear," the group said in a statement released during a press conference at Westminster Palace.

A government consultation on DECC Secretary Ed Miliband's proposed decision in favor of justification closed February 22, but the government has not yet responded to the consultation.

In that consultation, DECC said it had not decided yet whether to hold an inquiry, despite previous calls for one by various individuals and groups.

Thursday's call was publicly backed by some 80 individuals including many academics from various disciplines including politics, geography, sociology, planning, and environmental sciences, as well as politicians, mainly from the Liberal Democratic Party, but also some from the ruling Labour Party such as former environment minister Michael Meacher.

Jane Davidson, Minister for the Environment, Sustainability and Housing of the Welsh Assembly government also backed the call for a public inquiry as did Jonathan Porritt, a former chair of the government's Sustainable Development Commission and two former members of the government's Committee on Radioactive Waste Management.

The government has said the country must have a new fleet of nuclear power stations to replace the ageing existing plants many of which will close over the next decade, but also to help the UK meet its self-imposed carbon emission reduction targets and for energy security.

French energy giant EDF has said it want to build at least four new nuclear plants in Britain, and German counterparts E.ON and RWE have expressed an interest in building three.

But all are waiting on the government's reform of the planning system to strip away obstacles that have delayed major infrastructure projects for several years in the past.

They are also pressing the government for some form of subsidy or guarantee either on the price of electricity or the price of carbon to make the huge capital outlay for a nuclear plant attractive for potential investors.

--David Stellfox, david_stellfox@platts.com