2013-04-16 10:05:26 +02:00

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7721104
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# Nuclear confusion
## Telegraph View: More clarity is needed over the Government's plans for
more power stations.
7:51PM BST 13 May 2010
[Comments][1]
They cannot yet be considered cracks, but one or two hairline fractures have
started to appear in the new coalition Government, despite the best endeavours
of its leaders to minimise points of conflict. The most pronounced involves
the future source of Britain's energy supply.
This matters. It took many years of dithering before the last Labour
government eventually revived the nuclear power programme. Without such a
programme, there is a grave risk of energy shortages in the medium term. We
will also be vulnerable to sudden disruption of oil and gas supplies from the
Middle East or Russia, for reasons either of political instability or
blackmail. The Conservatives in opposition were emphatic that these dangers
must be averted and in their election manifesto proposed 10 new nuclear power
stations in the next 20 years (though without public subsidy), ensuring
security of supply and a zero-carbon source of electricity.
So the appointment of Chris Huhne to take charge of the Department of Energy
and Climate Change came as something of a surprise. Mr Huhne, a Liberal
Democrat, has made no secret of his dislike for nuclear power, an antipathy
shared by many in his party. The coalition's draft agreement allows a plan for
more power stations to be brought before Parliament, but lets the Lib Dems
speak against it and then to abstain in a vote. This is being hailed as an
example of how previously implacable differences can be bridged in the
interests of stable government. But it has unknowable consequences. Decisions
about investment in nuclear power need to be made this year, yet the coalition
risks reintroducing the uncertainty that had previously been removed. The new
ministry has promised to govern in the national interest. In which case, this
lack of clarity cannot be sustained for long.
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