A new generation of nuclear power stations for Britain is now "back on the agenda with a vengeance", Tony Blair is expected to say tonight.

Downing Street released extracts of a speech to the Confederation of British Industry dinner, after the Prime Minister received a first draft of the Government’s long-awaited energy review. The full review, commissioned last year, is due to be published by the end of July.

In the speech, Mr Blair will disclose the "stark" facts of the country’s potential future reliance on foreign gas imports - a reliance that has already sent energy prices soaring for British consumers.

"These facts put the replacement of nuclear power stations, a big push on renewables and a step change on energy efficiency, engaging both business and consumers, back on the agenda with a vengeance," he is due to say.

Britain currently has around a dozen nuclear power stations, most of them built in the 1960s and 1970s, providing around 25 per cent of the country's electricity needs. Natural gas provides about 40 per cent.

News of Mr Blair's intended remarks have already provoked dismay among enviromental activists, who believe that Britain can meet its future energy needs and reduce polluting emissions without building nuclear power stations. Green campaigners accused him of being "hell bent" on nuclear power.

Stephen Tindale, director of Greenpeace, said: "The Prime Minister obviously made up his mind about nuclear power some time ago, and certainly well before the Government launched its energy review.

"This is the latest act in a long running farce that is the energy review. The review is a smokescreen for a decision that has already been taken.

"We said at the start of the review that this would happen. It is tragic at a time when many groups are showing the way to a safer and cheaper energy future."

A report for the environmental group WWF earlier this month suggested that by cutting energy waste and increasing renewable energy sources, the power sector could reduce emissions by 55 per cent by 2025.

WWF has submitted the report to the government’s review into Britain’s future energy supplies, which is expected to recommend reviving Britain’s nuclear power programme.

But Sir Digby Jones, the CBI Director-General, said: "The Prime Minister is absolutely right to put nuclear power firmly on the agenda for the future.

"The Government must take brave decisions as a result of its energy review, to help deliver to business and consumers secure and affordable power for the long term that doesn’t come at the expense of the environment.

"With an ever-increasing reliance on imported gas, and the pressing need to reduce carbon emissions, nuclear power may well form part of the solution. New nuclear build need not be at the expense of renewable sources - both can have a role delivering the UK’s 21st Century energy supplies.

"Whatever the mix of energy sources, a big leap forward in energy efficiency from all sectors is also essential."

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Olympic-size television coming to your town
• Mosley opens new front in battle for privacy
• Decorator fined for smoking in van