U.K. Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling started considering designs for new nuclear power stations and said he aimed to make a decision on whether to back construction of new plants by the end of this year.
The government will consult industry, consumers and environmental groups until Oct. 10 on the need for nuclear power. It also will begin work to pre-license new reactors. The U.K. must replace a third of its power plants including 23 nuclear stations within the next decade.
“A decision has got to be taken one way or another this year,'' Darling said in a statement to Parliament in London today. “Nuclear needs to be part of the mix.''
More nuclear power would help fill the shortfall and limit carbon dioxide emissions blamed for harming the Earth's climate. Prime Minister Tony Blair has set a target to cut a quarter of all carbon emissions by 2020, which means using less coal.
The government is aiming to spur investment of 20 billion pounds ($39 billion) in electric generation plants and also today said it is looking at specific nuclear reactor designs. The trade department said it will begin a “pre-licensing'' process on the design of new reactors before the consultation's verdict arrives.
Industry Reaction
“We are already heavily involved in the early U.K. new build processes and are very excited about continuing to work with the U.K. government and utilities to provide a long term supply of clean energy,'' said Masao Niwano, a senior vice president of Toshiba Corp., said in a statement.
Toshiba's Westinghouse Electric Co., Canada's AECL Inc., Areva SA and General Electric Co. have said they're interested in getting approval for their reactor designs. E.ON and Electricite de France SA have expressed interest in building nuclear plants. British Energy Group Plc is seeking partners to replace plants at its existing atomic sites.
E.ON U.K. said yesterday it will support the reactor designs of Areva and Westinghouse. The company is also in discussions with GE about that company's designs.
Environmentalists want the government to support wind farms, tidal power and solar panels. The U.K. has an ambition to produce 15 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2015 and 20 percent by 2020.
Another option being considered, the underground storage of carbon particles from burnt fuel, suffered a setback today when BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company, scrapped its proposed $1 billion carbon capture and storage power project in Peterhead, Scotland, saying possible U.K. government funding will come too late.
Conservative View
“The government's current energy strategy won't put us on a path to deliver the kinds of cuts needed to combat climate change,'' said John Sauven, a director for Greenpeace. “We need a policy that will transform the way energy is consumed.''
The opposition Conservative Party said the measures announced by Darling today don't do enough to ensure nuclear power will be built. The party also ridiculed the government for re-running the consultation on whether to use nuclear power after a court ruled that the previous study was invalid.
The High Court ruled on Feb. 15 in favor of a Greenpeace claim that the government's previous consultation on nuclear energy was inadequate because it failed to take into account issues about the cost of nuclear waste.
“Whatever their rhetoric, there is nothing in this white paper that will guarantee that a single nuclear power station will ever be built,'' said Alan Duncan, who speaks for the Conservative Party on trade and industry matters.
No Subsidy
Darling has said the government has no targets for the number of nuclear stations required, and he has offered no estimates of the shares of coal, gas and nuclear in future electricity supply. Instead, private companies will build the plants, and the market will decide the mix of fuels consumed.
Currently, Britain's 23 nuclear power plants generate almost a fifth of the nation's electricity. That may fall to 6 percent within 15 years without action, Blair's office estimates. Companies complain the government has been slow to support the mix of fuels it would prefer in the U.K., stifling investment.
“The largest electricity companies want diversity in fuels and technologies to guard against price and supply shocks,'' said David Porter, chief executive of the U.K.'s Association of Electricity Producers. “Investment decisions could yet be waylaid by political ones.''
Darling also said today he will force companies from banks and hotels to supermarkets along with government departments to “limit their emissions.''
He will press energy companies to “double'' current obligations to provide customers with energy-saving advice and require that all new household gas and electricity meters a digital display showing energy consumption.
