Britain needs new nuclear power stations, say scientists

Britain must consider building new nuclear power stations urgently if it is to meet its international commitments on cutting greenhouse gases as well as plugging a looming "energy gap" between supply and demand.

A study by more 150 scientists and energy experts has found that renewable sources of green energy will be unable to generate enough electricity to meet the expected shortfall resulting from the closure of existing nuclear power plants.

The experts found that if nothing is done by the government to bridge the gap, then British power stations will be unable to supply 20 per cent of the country's peak demand for electricity in 10 years time.

John Loughhead, executive director of the UK Energy Research Centre and lead author of the study, said that cutting emissions of greenhouse gases from gas and coal-fired power stations is driving the need for fresh sources of energy.

"What was quite clear was if the UK is to continue on its path of reducing atmospheric emissions, then it will need probably to maintain some nuclear capability," Dr Loughhead said yesterday.

"Renewable sources of energy will clearly play a growing role in the future but what is also evident is that at the moment many of them still have a higher cost base and are going to need continued support both in development and deployment," he said.

Nuclear power generates about 20 per cent of Britain's electricity but many existing power stations are near the end of their lives and there are no plans to replace them following a moratorium on building new plants.

The Government is in the midst of an energy review and Tony Blair, the prime minister, has signalled that he may approve the building of new nuclear power stations to help to meet Britain's target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel.

"If we envisage what life will be like without those nuclear power stations, and if you look at the development of the other generating technologies and our current demand growth patterns, again the sums simply don't end up," Dr Loughhead said.

"Therefore the inevitability is that we currently see no other way of supplying that portion of our energy demand other than by maintaining the capacity of what we have got in nuclear," he said.

The latest study comes out of two-day conference on energy organised by the British Geological Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Institute of Physics, the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Dr Loughhead said that a consensus emerged about the need for Britain to consider a wide range of measures to address an energy gap exacerbated by the decline in North Sea gas, a peak in world oil production, which is expected within the next 50 years, and the decommissioning of nuclear power stations.

"There is more than one way which the energy gap can be resolved, was the conclusion of this discussion, but given the way that our energy system is currently structured, nuclear would be the most likely solution to the problem," he said.

"If we decided that we were totally unconcerned about emissions to the atmosphere then on the timescale of 2050 I don't believe that there was a specific energy gap envisaged," he added.

The government has to do more to engage the public in the critically important choices facing the country in terms of energy supplies, Dr Loughhead said.

"The government has a key role in all of this and quite frankly we feel that the government could do much better than it has done so far," he said.

- INDEPENDENT