Nuclear power could deliver security and cheap energy - 09/04/2009
Pursuing nuclear power in the UK may help to safeguard Britain's energy future while enabling energy suppliers to offer lower prices.
Next week, the government is due to put forward a list of prospective sites for new nuclear power stations, with plans to have eight under construction within the next six years, reports the Times.
The first of these new plants will not be operational until 2017, with additional gas-fired power stations likely to be built to prevent widespread power cuts affecting the UK before then.
Dieter Helm, professor of energy policy at Oxford University and a former adviser to the government, told the paper: "The government is more and more desperate for nuclear power. It provides one of the only ways that we can achieve serious reductions in carbon emissions, while increasing the security of Britain's energy supplies."
In the mid-1990s existing nuclear power stations catered for 30 per cent of the national electricity demand, but this had halved in the past decade due to ageing technology.
French-owned energy company EDF took over nuclear provider British Energy last year in a deal worth £12.5 billion.
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