nuclear-news

UK govt sneaking subsidy into new nuclear industry?

“A subsidy is still a subsidy, even if it is given to others.”

New nuclear reactors could be eligible for subsidies, says minister. John Hayes says there will be no market support ‘unless similar support is also made available to other types of generation’ Juliette Jowit, political correspondent guardian.co.uk,  1 November 2012  The nuclear industry could get subsidies from the taxpayer to build new reactors, the new energy minister has said, despite opposition in the coalition agreement and repeated assurances to the contrary.

John Hayes told MPs on Thursday that new nuclear power would not receive specific government subsidy but could be eligible if other forms of electricity generation also benefited from the scheme.

The Conservative minister’s admission during energy questions in the House of Commons appears to back up a long-held suspicion that the government’s proposed scheme to offer a guaranteed minimum price for new low-carbon energy to encourage companies to build new capacity – known as Contracts for Difference – would become a backdoor subsidy for the expensive nuclear industry.

In reply to a question from the Liberal Democrat deputy leader, Simon Hughes, Hayes said: “Let me be crystal clear … there will be no direct payment, no market support for electricity supplied or capacity provided by a private-sector nuclear operator, unless similar support is also made available more widely to other types of generation.”

His reply was seized on by the Green party MP, Caroline Lucas, who said: “A subsidy is still a subsidy, even if it is given to others.” The one-hour session for all three ministers at the Department for Energy and Climate Change was the first appearance in his new job for Hayes. This week in an interview with the Daily Mail  he appeared to signal his opposition to building more onshore wind turbines, declaring “enough is enough”.

That view, popular with many of his party but in contradiction to coalition energy policy, prompted warnings from private renewable companies and a put-down from Ed Davey, the Lib Dem climate secretary….. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/01/nuclear-reactors-subsidies-minister

November 2, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK