Tony Cooper, NIA Chairman

NIA has a future only in so far as it adds value to its members' businesses. I am sure that we now do so. We have reformed and rebranded the former British Nuclear Industry Forum, and cut our budget by one third at the same time, so that the Nuclear Industry Association now relies on no single company for more than one quarter of its funding.

We have a business plan which clearly identifies three key activities of lobbying, representation and networking and have concentrated on developing our own niche and expertise. On industry wide matters, we have rapidly become the stakeholder of choice for dialogue with DTI officials and politicians.

Our membership has grown from 65 to 95 companies. We have established the nuclear, cross-party parliamentary group and organised visits and events on its behalf. We have produced literature for schools explaining the reality of the industry in a non partisan manner and a readable style and set up the young persons network to act as advocates on the industry's behalf. We have provided speakers for 7 major conferences and 3 television programmes in the last 3 months alone. In short we are becoming recognised and respected among all the relevant stakeholders, while maintaining all our traditional activities, despite a reduced budget.

So let me personally salute the small group of people at NIA who have achieved so much in so short a time, and a crucial time for the industry.

The NDA will inevitably and profoundly affect the future of virtually all our member companies. CoRWM will report in 2006 and given the expansion of decommissioning under the auspices of the NDA, Government will not be able to prevaricate on its eventual decisions on waste disposal for much longer.

Kyoto will now be fully implemented following the acquiescence of Russia and the significantly more demanding UK emission targets for CO2 look firmer by the day, even as they look less and less achievable.

Despite huge subsidies and government support, related targets for renewables and efficiencies are not being met, while the cost of trying to do so is becoming clear.

Influential environmentalists are lobbying in opposition to key renewable technologies, having recognised their hitherto ignored environmental consequences, while others are beginning to espouse the cause of nuclear generation as the only feasible, large scale CO2 avoiding technology currently available.

The electricity market is evolving from a fragmented 'commodity market' to a vertically integrated market with a smaller number of large players. Such a market is more likely to settle at or around the new entrant cost rather than the marginal cost with regular capacity constraints and associated price spikes of a traditional commodity market. Market instruments are emerging to price and recompense CO2 avoidance. Security of supply is remerging as an issue after the long period of low priced, plentiful UK gas, post privatisation rationalisation and Pool induced over investment made such concerns temporarily irrelevant. In short the market is evolving into one in which it is possible to see a future for nuclear generation.

Finally nuclear generation technology itself is changing with significant associated reductions in both costs and waste production, so that future decommissioning and disposal are beginning to look like minor extensions of programmes we are already committed to, at marginal cost.

It seems clear to me that the whole industry now faces the best set of opportunities it has had in decades. A fit, effective NIA will be an essential partner in the effort to ensure that opportunity is grasped. I wish you all well in a most exciting time to come.