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UK’s energy future could now be renewables, not nuclear

nuclear plants are not needed if the government will invest enough in energy conservation. Huhne’s opposition may create enough uncertainty and delay to open windows of opportunity for other energy technologies including wind and tidal energy.

Will the new U.K. government support nuclear energy? The Energy Collective,  by Dan Yurman, 17 May 2010, Energy & Climate Minister pledges “not one atom of help” from the governmentThe future of nuclear energy in the U.K. does not look bright based on the rhetoric coming from Chris Huhne, (right) the new government’s Energy & Climate minister and key advisor to Conservative Party coalition partner David Cameron.

In a May 13 interview with the BBC, Hunhe pledged there will be no public subsidies for new nuclear power stations in the U.K.Hunhe has alarmed nuclear utilities who are planning to replace the U.K.’s 19 aging first and second generations of nuclear reactors. He has a history of negative remarks about nuclear energy saying “it has been tried, tested, and failed.”………..

He tells the BBC that in addition to a ban on public subsidies, there also will not be any government help for “contingent liabilities.”

Mr Huhne told the BBC, “The main point is that there is absolutely no disagreement in the coalition on the key principal that there will be no public subsidy.

“If a consortium for the first time in decades is prepared to build a nuclear power station without public subsidy then in all probability new nuclear will go ahead.”…..

What it boils down to is that the Tories want nuclear energy and the Liberals oppose it. A disingenuous political plan  has been worked out by the coalition government for Huhne to sound off whenever he pleases in his personal views but to abstain from voting against pro-nuclear legislative measures in Parliament.

Fear, uncertainty, and doubt may have a purpose

This plan may not work due to blow back from the Liberal polticial base that makes up the government.  The Financial Times reported that Andrew Warren, an energy advisor to the Liberals during the election, said nuclear plants are not needed if the government will invest enough in energy conservation. Huhne’s opposition may create enough uncertainty and delay to open windows of opportunity for other energy technologies including wind and tidal energy.

May 18, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK | antinuclear, energy efficiency, nuclear spin, renewable energy, renewables