British industry and trades unions joined forces on Tuesday urging the government to give the green light to a new generation of nuclear power stations in the face of global warming and looming blackouts.

Nuclear power provides 20 percent of British electricity -- a figure set to drop to eight percent within seven years and to zero by 2035 -- as ageing nuclear power plants are shut down. Faced with the prospect of blackouts by 2012 as electricity output falls and demand rises, Britain is carrying out an urgent review of its energy options -- including new nuclear plants.

Environmentalists want the gap plugged with renewable sources such as wind and waves, coupled with greater efficiency in generation and usage, a solution rejected by industry which says renewables can only contribute a small percentage. "It is hard to see how the government can maintain its veto on nuclear new build," John Cridland, deputy director general of the Confederation of British Industry, told a conference.

Brendan Barber, head of the Trades Union Congress, issued a similar call at the gathering to discuss sustainable energy. "There is a role for nuclear power as part of a balanced energy policy," he said. Both men urged the government to produce a clear, long-term energy policy that would take the brakes off much-needed investment across the whole energy industry and, in doing so, save jobs, generate growth and secure energy supplies. Critics accuse the government of using the energy review -- due to report by mid-year -- as a smokescreen to hide a decision they say has already been taken to build nuclear power plants.

DIVERSITY VITAL
Trade and Industry Minister Alan Johnson denied the outcome was a foregone conclusion but said the review would have to come down one side of the fence or the other on a whole range of options -- including nuclear energy. Johnson also warned that if anyone believed the government would underwrite the massive start up costs of nuclear power, or pick up the clean-up bill as it has done in the past for the industry, they should think again.

He said coal -- the world s most abundant fossil fuel but one of the worst contributors to global warming from emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide -- was bound to have a role globally in a future energy mix. The secret was developing the technology to capture the emitted carbon and tuck it away again in safe geological structures like old aquifers or oil wells.

China for one, with plentiful supplies of coal and a booming economy, is building a coal-fired power station a week and is eager for so-called clean coal technology and renewables. "Diversity is vital, not just in the type of energy we generate but in the sources of supply," Johnson said. He also trumpeted the potential of microgeneration using electricity-generating solar panels or small wind turbines for homes and municipalities.

He said allocating carbon emission quotas and trading them like the European Union s Emissions Trading Scheme was the way forward, and called for surface transport to be included. (Planet Ark, 01/03/06)