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Britain’s nuclear power huge investment needed without govt subsidy

Mr Huhne yesterday reiterated his sceptical position about new reactors, telling BBC News that they would go ahead only if energy companies were prepared to invest without any new government subsidy, and warning: “No new nuclear power station has been built without new public subsidy for a very long time.”

Billions likely to be spent on nuclear power, FT.com, By Ed Crooks, Energy editor   May 14 2010 Tens of billions of pounds of investment in new nuclear power stations can still go ahead, in spite of the appointment of the Liberal Democrats’ Chris Huhne as energy secretary, industry executives said yesterday.The Lib Dem manifesto committed the party to “reject a new generation of nuclear power stations”, arguing that they would be more expensive than energy-saving measures or renewables such as wind power. Mr Huhne yesterday reiterated his sceptical position about new reactors, telling BBC News that they would go ahead only if energy companies were prepared to invest without any new government subsidy, and warning: “No new nuclear power station has been built without new public subsidy for a very long time.”

However, the energy companies looking at making investments of £40bn-plus to build up to 12 new nuclear power stations in Britain said that they were reassured by the details of the coalition agreement.
Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of the UK arm of EDF, the French energy group that plans to build the first new reactor in Britain for more than 20 years, described Mr Huhne as “a man we can do business with”.,,,,,,,,,,,
Andrew Warren, the director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy, who has been an adviser to the Lib Dems on energy policy, said more efficient use of power would be a much cheaper solution.

“We could supply all the heat, light and power we need using half the amount of fuel we currently consume, using existing technology. That would remove the need for new nuclear plants and many other new power stations besides,” he said.

FT.com / Energy – Billions likely to be spent on nuclear power

May 14, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK | antinuclear, energy efficiency, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, reactors