| Nuclear has role to play, says the Shadow Minister | | Print | |
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Bernard Jenkin, the Shadow Minister for Energy, today called on the Government to stop 'demonising' nuclear power and accept that it had an important role to play in guaranteeing the UK a low-carbon, secure energy supply. He was speaking at a reception organised by the Nuclear Industry Association entitled 'Energy Choices: nuclear, part of the solution'. Also addressing the reception was NIA chief executive Keith Parker. Mr Jenkin said the Government was failing to secure any of the three pillars of a national energy supply, which were providing affordable electricity to domestic and commercial customers, ensuring security of supply and complying with environmental obligations. This winter had seen considerable disruption to energy supply, carbon emission targets were being missed and the nuclear component of the UK's energy supply was in retreat, he added. Mr Jenkin said the nuclear component would be replaced by fossil fuel generation, adding that the Government's assumption that 'intermittent' wind generation would take its place had been 'rather naïve'. The Conservatives were not satisfied with Tony Blair's decision - 'five years too late' - to review the UK's energy supply next year, he said: 'We think the Government should produce an energy white paper by the end of this year. What is the delay? Why is the Prime Minister putting it off?' The reason for the delay, he claimed, was the Government's fear of taking unpopular decisions. Its policy was also being distorted by people in the Government 'determined' to block nuclear exapansion. He insisted that concerns over nuclear waste could not be used as an excuse to block the construction of new nuclear plants, as the amount of waste they would create was negligible compared to the amounts already in existence. The subsidies given in the past to the nuclear industry could not be an objection either, he said, because the wind industry would by 2010 be receiving £1 billion a year in subsidies regardless of whether it had met its targets. 'There is a complete lack of consistency,' he added. Mr Jenkin said the nuclear lobby must try to understand the public's fears over nuclear power so as to reassure them that those anxieties were groundless. Stressing the need for bipartisan agreement on energy policy, he added: 'We need to thank the nuclear industry for the contribution it has made to clean energy generation over the years. We need to stop demonising nuclear energy. We need to understand there is a big change coming in the Labour Party.' Speaking earlier, Keith Parker had said that the Prime Minister's announcement of a review of energy policy would 'hopefully be a welcome opportunity for us to present the case for nuclear' in a fair and rational debate. Driving the announcement were the twin factors of climate change and security of supply, he said, noting the devastating effect that hurricanes Katrina and Rita had had on US energy supply. Citing recent rises in oil prices and noting that the UK was not immune to world energy problems, Mr Parker added: 'The era of cheap, reliable energy is perhaps coming to an end.' The UK's problems would be exacerbated by the number of nuclear power stations coming off the grid, half of them to be decommissioned by 2015, he said. 'We do face a generation gap in the next decade or so. Renewables and energy efficiency are showing fairly slow progress.' It was therefore legitimate, Mr Parker said, to ask how the UK could guarantee a sustainable supply of energy with reduced emissions in future decades, and to insist that nuclear power had some role to play. 'Nuclear is part of the solution in a balanced mix of sources,' he added. 'We believe that nuclear has a vital role to play in the future in delivering the energy and environmental goals the Government has set.' |
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