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British government urged to take rapid decision on nuclear energy
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  • LONDON (AFP) Nov 21, 2005
    Britain's bosses called on the government Monday to take a rapid decision on the future of nuclear energy to face up to the country's energy needs in coming years.

    The call came as Prime Minister Tony Blair was reported to favour building new nuclear power stations, and after his chief scientific advisor urged the government to "give the green light" to a new generation of nuclear reactors.

    Sir Digby Jones, director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said: "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."

    The CBI chief added: "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."

    With Britain's ageing plants set to be retired in the coming years, Blair's adviser David King told the BBC on Sunday: "We have to take decisions very quickly."

    Nuclear power meets more than a fifth of Britain's energy needs but that will fall to just four percent by 2010 if some 20 reactors built in the 1960s and 1970s are not replaced soon.

    Blair relaunched the nuclear debate in September by saying all options were being considered in a review of the government's energy policy, but he faces stiff opposition from green groups and some in his Labour Party to building new reactors.

    Faced with the reality of global warming, King said "the equation is simple".

    The declining share of energy produced from nuclear reactors -- a carbon dioxide-free source -- was contributing to the failure to meet the government's targets for reducing emissions by 2010.

    "I think we need every tool in the bag to tackle this problem," King told the BBC.

    The Times reported on Monday that Blair had been won over to the idea of new nuclear reactors, whose construction could begin within 10 years, as the only way of guaranteeing sufficient power while keeping down greenhouse gases.

    The prime minister would launch a study in two weeks, with results expected early next summer, The Times said.

    "Critics will suspect that membership (of the team carrying out the study) will be chosen to ensure a different conclusion to the last energy white paper in 2003," the paper said.

    Two years ago Blair had described the nuclear option, traditionally opposed by his Labour party, as "unattractive."

    Environment Minister Margaret Beckett said Sunday it would be impossible to build nuclear reactors quickly enough to help Britain meet its targets under the Kyoto treaty, which requires nations to cut greenhouse gases.

    There were concerns about the full cost of nuclear power and storage of waste, but climate change meant governments had to take another look at nuclear energy, she told the BBC.

    "I've always accepted we can't afford to close the door on nuclear," Beckett said.




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