A CABINET split over nuclear energy was laid bare yesterday with the leak of a memo suggesting that Margaret Beckett had blocked the case for new power stations.

Mrs Beckett, the Environment Secretary, “opposes nuclear new build”, according to a briefing prepared for Alan Johnson, the new Productivity, Energy and Industry Secretary.

The leak came as nuclear power rose up the political agenda after being largely ignored during the election campaign. Tony Blair has stated his own personal preference for nuclear energy, but insisted that no decision had yet been taken on these key long-term issues.

Joan MacNaughton, the director-general of energy policy at the DPEI, said in her memo that Britain faced electricity and gas shortages leading to steep increases in fuel prices unless action was taken to replace ageing nuclear plants. However, a review examining how to cut carbon emissions by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) last autumn was not considering new reactors, the leak said.

Instead, Mrs Beckett favoured forcing heavy industry to reduce its emissions, which could “damage business competitiveness and security of [energy] supply”, the briefing said.

It added: “Because Beckett opposes nuclear new build, the review has not so far considered whether nuclear should contribute to cutting emissions.”

The decision on whether to build a new generation of nuclear power stations is among the most sensitive facing the Government at the start of its third term. Fourteen ageing nuclear plants currently provide a quarter of Britain’s electricity, but all are due to be decommissioned within the next two decades. Left-wing Labour MPs would oppose the ten new nuclear power plants that Britain needs at an estimated cost of £12 billion.

Mr Johnson was said by an aide yesterday to have an “open mind” about nuclear energy. Environmentalists said that the briefing was misleading. Tony Juniper, of Friends of the Earth, said: “Nuclear power is unsafe, uneconomic, unpopular and irrelevant as an answer to tackling climate change.”

A spokeswoman for Defra said: “We do not talk about leaked documents, but the 2003 Environmental Protection Act allows for keeping the door open on nuclear development.”

POWER GAME

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