– Edited By Chris Reed –
Energy secretary Chris Huhne has unveiled plans for eight locations in England and Wales as ideal for building nuclear power stations in the future.
The previous Labor government drew up a list of 11 possible sites for new plants to be created by 2025, but this was cut by three in a revised draft policy statement revealed in parliament yesterday.
Mr Huhne has declared that Dungeness in Kent and Braystones and Kirksanton – both of which are in Cumbria – are no longer suitable due to environmental concerns.
He explained that the UK's quest to reduce its carbon footprint will revolve around renewables but will ultimately be a combination of a number of sources, including nuclear.
"I'm fed up with the stand-off between advocates of renewables and of nuclear which means we have neither," he said.
"I am making clear that new nuclear will be free to contribute as much as possible with the onus on developers to pay for the clean-up."
The potential locations outlined by Mr Huhne are: Bradwell in Essex; Hartlepool; Heysham in Lancashire; Hinkley Point in Somerset; Oldbury in Gloucestershire; Sellafield in Cumbria; Sizewell in Suffolk and Wylfa on the Isle of Anglesey.
Under the plans, energy companies will meet all the costs of handling radioactive waste and decommissioning the plants at the end of their lives.
The Government will fix a 'clean up' price before the first concrete is poured. Energy firms will have to pay compensation for any accidents to a limit of £140million.
Discussions over nuclear power plants could cause tension in the coalition government, with the Conservatives thought to be more in favor than their Liberal Democrat counterparts.