Britain to fight global warming with nuclear heat

LONDON, 8 July 2004 - According to a report in The Guardian yesterday, Tony Blair has signalled that Britain may have to build a new generation of nuclear power stations to meet the challenge of climate change. Mr Blair repeatedly stressed that: "No decision had been made in government and the nuclear industry had to do more to meet the public's concerns about safety and costs."

In an astonishingly blunt move to lobby the nuclear case the British Prime Minister encouraged the industry to work harder to overcome public resistance to new nuclear build.
However, according to the Worldwatch Institute, nuclear power's biggest problems are economic: it is simply no longer competitive with other, newer forms of power generation. The final 20 U.S. reactors cost $3 to $4 billion to build, or some $3,000 to $4,000 per kilowatt of capacity.
By contrast, new gas-fired combined cycle plants using the latest jet engine technology cost $400-$600 per kilowatt, and wind turbines are being installed at less than $1,000 per kilowatt.

With the U.K. spending 2 billion on subsidizing British Energy, the ailing nuclear company, Halo Energy questions the logic of continuing a policy of constructing new nuclear power plants in Britain when other cheaper, cleaner and sustainable alternatives exist.