Nick Clegg says coalition will be unable to subsidise nuclear energy should current uncertainty cause investors to pull away
Britain could join a wave of countries loosening their embrace of nuclear power in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, has said.
Speaking to reporters on a trip to Mexico, Clegg said that the new uncertainty for the nuclear industry could raise its liabilities and in all likelihood entail some kind of public subsidy ? which the coalition would be unable to provide.
When the Liberal Democrats joined the coalition the party was seen to drop its long-held opposition to nuclear power but retain a commitment of no new subsidies for the industry.
Any pushback over the perceived viability of nuclear energy would cause ructions in the coalition; some Tory MPs are convinced that Britain's energy mix must include nuclear power, to try to meet all the UK's energy needs while keeping a commitment to carbon emissions reductions. Some members of the Conservative benches think renewable energy sources would fail to make the weight if nuclear power were knocked out of the equation. bLib Dems believe the huge subsidies the industry can receive skew the market in favour of nuclear.
Speaking in Mexico, Clegg said: "We have always said there are two conditions for the future of nuclear power ? it has to be safe and cannot let the taxpayer be ripped off. We could be in a situation now where the potential liabilities are higher, which makes it more unlikely to find private investment. There will be no rowing back on the coalition agreement, the agreement was very clear."
Clegg said the new carbon price brought in by the coalition, which will reward low-carbon technologies like nuclear and renewables, could help ameliorate the cost pressures on the nuclear industry. But he said that he was still unsure whether the industry would remain viable. Eight further nuclear plants are due for construction in the UK.
The chief nuclear officer, Mike Weightman, is managing a review of the safety of British reactors in the aftermath of the events in Japan. The interim findings are due in May.
At the moment, UK policy is based on a three-pronged portfolio approach: nuclear energy but also more renewable energy and new carbon-capture technology to mitigate the damaging environmental effects of fossil fuel-fired power plants and industrial facilities.
Despite there being few immediate parallels with Japan's reactors ? which were built in an earthquake and tsunami zone ? the problem for the UK government will arise if the nuclear industry as a whole becomes more insecure and therefore more expensive for investors, requiring subsidies.
The issue of nuclear power has the potential of becoming a "wedge issue" over the next few years as Lib Dems seek to distinguish themselves from their pro-nuclear coalition partners ahead of the next general election.
In Germany, the head of the ruling Christian Democratic Union party blamed the near-meltdown of the Fukushima reactors in Japan for a popular revolt against new nuclear power in Germany, which was registered at the ballot box this weekend with Angela Merkel's party partly losing to the anti-nuclear Greens in Baden-W�rttemburg.
In Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne and Munich 200,000 protesters took to the streets demanding the closure of all 17 of Germany's nuclear reactors. Merkel has already had to act. She declared a three-month moratorium on a decision about whether to extend the life of the existing reactors.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/29/japan-nuclear-clegg-energy-policy
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