New energy policy 'urgently needed'

Monday, 21 November 2005 12:00 AM

The government must make a decision within the next year on whether to back a new generation of nuclear power stations, business leaders warn today.

The CBI has called on ministers to put in place a coherent energy policy "as a matter of urgency" in order to ensure Britain will have access to the energy it needs.

It comes as reports today suggest Tony Blair has decided that nuclear power is the best way to meet Britain's energy needs and will set up a review on the subject in the next fortnight.

Britain currently has 12 nuclear power stations, providing 22 per cent of electricity, but this will fall to just three stations by 2020 unless they are replaced.

Ministers have previously refused to rule out building more nuclear power stations, but the promised review on the subject has so far yet to materialise, and many believe time is running out.

Today CBI director general Digby Jones called on the government to "grasp the nettle and make some tough decisions".

"One third of UK power generating capacity needs to be replaced by 2020. But without a coherent and integrated energy policy there is a risk that the billions of investment required will not come at the right time or at the most efficient cost," he said.

"The challenges the government didn't tackle in its 2003 energy white paper have not gone away. 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," he said.

Sir Digby criticises the failure to take a decision on the future of nuclear power, saying a "comprehensive debate" on the issue is needed to improve awareness of its benefits - the lack of carbon dioxide emissions - and disadvantages, such as the costs and the issue of waste.

According to the Times, however, Mr Blair has made up his mind to build more stations, and is due to order a review in the next two weeks, to report by next summer.

As the government's chief scientific advisor yesterday warned that Britain is set to miss its self-imposed emissions targets, the newspaper reports that Mr Blair believes nuclear power is the only way to meet Britain's energy needs and its climate change commitments.

Any decision to press ahead with building nuclear power stations is likely to face fierce criticism from environmentalists and from within the cabinet.

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