U.K. Nuclear Update

In an editorial this morning, the Times of London urged the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair to push ahead with new nuclear build:

Nuclear energy is an emotive subject, and it was politically understandable, though democratically lamentable, that the Prime Minister wanted to avoid it until after this year’s general election. But, stripped of emotion, the position is stark. Britain’s 12 ageing nuclear power stations provide a fifth of the country’s energy needs. Yet all but one will be out of business by 2023. Many coal-fired plants, which produce another 30 per cent, fall foul of Brussels rules on clean air and will also be shutting down over the next two decades. By then, Britain will need to find 50 gigawatts of new capacity. Given the lead time for any successor plants to be designed, approved and phased in, decisions need to be made in the next year or two.

Mr Blair should continue to encourage renewable sources. The potential of wave power and tidal waters should be explored; and there must be much more research into making the storage of solar energy more efficient — Sharp, the Japanese electronics company, claims to be close to a breakthrough in this area. But in the meantime he should ask the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate to begin examining existing nuclear sites for future use. Nuclear reactors may not be what Mr Blair has in mind when he thinks of his legacy. But the next generation would thank him for this initiative.

The voice of commerce is getting louder too. Here's Sir Digby Jones, Director General of the Confederation of British Industry off of the AFX wire:

'A decision on the future of nuclear power has been allowed to drift too long. Potential investors and the British public both deserve certainty.'

He went on: 'Nuclear's position as a reliable, low-carbon energy source is without doubt, but understandable concerns exist about costs and waste.'

'The challenges the Government didn't tackle in its 2003 Energy White Paper have not gone away.' Jones said. 'The opportunity must now be seized. Government must grasp the nettle and make some tough decisions. It has to govern for the whole country in the long term, and not just for the ideology of any one vested interest.'

For more on the CBI report on British energy policy, click here. For a copy, click here (PDF). For more from the U.K. publication, Manufacturing, click here.

And finally, here's Sir David King, Blair's science adviser, quoted in the Guardian:

"I think the important thing is to give the green light to the private sector and the utilities and give them nuclear as an option," he told BBC1's Sunday AM programme.

I'd say there's some momentum here.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Environment, Energy, Politics, United Kingdom