NUCLEAR power will have to provide half of Britain’s electricity needs if the Government is to have any hope of meeting its Kyoto targets for reducing greenhouse gases, a top official of the Department of Trade and Industry has told ministers.

The projection, which would mean a radical U-turn of current government policy on nuclear energy, also undermines the promotion of wind power as the only “clean” answer to Britain’s energy needs. It would also require the construction of 45 new reactors across the country, industry experts told The Times last night.

The disclosure that the DTI’s own energy experts believe that Britain will have to rely substantially on nuclear power by 2050, comes as Ian Fell, a leading figure in Britain’s renewable energy industry, calls for an immediate resumption in building nuclear power stations. He said it was time to end the “wishful thinking” over the potential for renewable energy.

The forecast, by Adrian Gault, Director of Strategic Development at the DTI’s Energy Strategy Unit, is likely to cast a cloud over a keynote speech that Tony Blair is making on climate change today. The Prime Minister is expected to say that climate change is the gravest challenge facing the planet and that he will put it at the top of the agenda when Britain takes over the Presidency of the G8 summit and the European Union next year.

Nuclear power currently provides a fifth of Britain’s electricity, but the nation’s nuclear plants are aging and will be progressively closed down from 2008. At present there are no plans to replace the generators that are shut, despite the fact that nuclear generators do not produce climate- changing carbon dioxide emissions.

The Energy White Paper, which was published in February 2003, put in place a policy of “not now but not never” towards new nuclear generators and made a commitment that no new nuclear building would be signed off without wide consultation.

However, energy industry experts said that the revelation that the DTI was contemplating a “Plan B” scenario, which relied heavily on nuclear power, would frighten off investors in renewable energy.

“One of the reasons for negativity towards nuclear was that you could never get investors to put money into renewables if they thought that nuclear was back on the agenda,” one industry source said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Trade and Industry said that the proposal was one of several scenarios that officials were looking at.

“The report looks at a set of differing scenarios for reaching the 60 per cent carbon dioxide reduction target by 2050 — it includes both nuclear and non-nuclear possibilities. It is a research document to help inform government policy but in no way does it constitute government policy or indeed change it,” she said. “We are not abandoning renewable energy.” Brian Wilson, the fourth of six energy ministers that Labour has had since 1997, expressed his surprise at the DTI paper.

“The Government position that is set out in the Energy White Paper is not based on any substantial contribution from nuclear power, past 2020. My own view is different and I think the debate is moving in the direction of recognising nuclear power as an essential part of a low carbon energy mix,” he said.

Mr Wilson has urged the Government to resume its nuclear programme and has called opposition to nuclear power, in an age of global warming, a cop-out.

Other countries have also recently decided to begin building new nuclear power stations, including France and Finland.

Professor Fells, chairman of the New and Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth, Northumberland, which is developing renewable energy technology that can be used commercially, made the call for “realism” towards nuclear power in a European Union journal yesterday. “Many politicians hope that green, renewable energy will save the day. This is wishful thinking,” he said.

“It is foolish to set renewables against nuclear power as though they are alternative strategies. It is times to make some painful decisions. If they are serious about this projection then we should be embarking on building new power stations now,” he said.

Michael Howard, the Conservative leader, who also made a keynote speech on climate change yesterday, would not commit his party to building nuclear power stations.

Asked if the government should expand Britain’s nuclear plants, Mr Howard said: “Nuclear power is expensive and there are questions on how we deal with the waste.”

There should be a comprehensive assessment of Britain’s energy needs, possible alternative sources of supply and whether nuclear power was needed, he said.

In recent years gas has been the cheapest and cleanest power source for generation, but that is set to change as Britain becomes a net importer.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Queen uses Christmas speech to praise Forces
• Helmand Christmas — the briefest of respites
• Hard work — but the finest bacon