Nuclear power: the unanswered questions
13th July 2006
Alan Whitehead, MP for Southampton Test today welcomed much of the Energy Review, published yesterday by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Alistair Darling, and in particular praised the commitment in the review to energy management and increased support for renewable energy sources.
But he also said the Review has not made the case for nuclear power that had been claimed in some quarters. Indeed, Dr Whitehead cited three questions on nuclear power unanswered in the review:
"Firstly no new nuclear power stations will be online before 2020 according to the Review. This means that any gap in energy supplies will have to be made up before then and not by nuclear.
"Secondly nuclear power stations will only be built by private companies if they are confident that they will get their money back. The mechanisms set up in the Review will not achieve that but might instead damage investment in other sources of energy.
"Finally, there are strong mechanisms proposed in the Review to encourage energy efficiency and the take up of distributed generation. It is not clear why we need nuclear if these paths are rigorously pursued."