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LONDON - Britain gave the go-ahead to a new generation of nuclear power stations on Thursday, setting no limits on nuclear expansion and adding momentum for a worldwide renaissance of atomic energy.
The ruling Labour government considered nuclear power unattractive as recently as 2003 but now says it will help Britain meet its climate change goals and avoid overdependence on imported energy as North Sea oil and gas supplies dwindle.
Nuclear power stations provide about 18 per cent of Britain's electricity now, but many are nearing the end of their lives.
"We want Britain to be more secure in its energy supply," Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters. "We are inviting companies to express an interest in building a new generation of power stations to replace the existing ones."
Energy Secretary John Hutton said he would set no limit on the construction of new plants.
Nuclear operators welcomed the move and announced plans for at least four new reactors with the first running by late 2017.
Environmental group Greenpeace, which succeeded in blocking an earlier pro-nuclear decision, said the public had been misled during recent consultations and its lawyers were already considering a fresh challenge.
"This is bad news for Britain's energy security and bad news for our efforts to beat climate change," Greenpeace Executive Director John Sauven said, adding that government plans to store highly radioactive waste underground were not safe.
Nuclear power is on the verge of a renaissance, having remained unchanged at 16 per cent of the global mix for the last 20 years, when the Chernobyl disaster curbed its growth.
It is now becoming more competitive amid surging prices for oil and gas and buoyed by the need to cut carbon emissions to fight climate change.
Already, countries such as France and Finland are building new nuclear plants and, in the United States, companies have begun filing licence applications, reinforcing the view atomic energy is part of the solution to the world's energy problems.
There is opposition to nuclear among some states, however, including Germany, an anti-nuclear stronghold. Critics say the toxic waste from nuclear power generation remains a problem for thousands of years and is not worth the risk.
Hutton said the UK would not subsidise any new reactors, but the government would step in to help in case of a catastrophe.
Britain's opposition Conservative Party lent its support to the decision and vowed to "set aside political scrapping", but London Mayor Ken Livingstone called the decision "the mistake of a generation".
"I would anticipate that there will be yet further challenges, both political and indeed legal which the government will have to deal with," said lawyer Jim Percival of Brabners Chaffe Street, a nuclear specialist.
Nuclear operators say they could have new plants running in Britain by 2017, but analysts point to tough global competition for components and experienced nuclear workers.
"The UK will need to work hard to remain an attractive option," said Tony Ward of Ernst & Young, adding that more than 30 reactors were under construction around the world, and over 90 were in the pipeline.
Hutton said he expected several new plants to be running by the mid-2020s and France's EDF said it aimed to build four reactors in the UK alongside Areva and British Energy .
Britain's Centrica and Germany's RWE and E.ON also said they were keen to get involved.
The government green light was accompanied by publication of an Energy Bill to be fast-tracked through parliament with the Climate Change Bill and the Planning Bill.
The trio of bills form the backbone of the government's new energy and climate policy for the next decades.
- REUTERS
