Nuclear fast-track plans unveiled
Updated on 09 November 2009
"We can't say no to all of the nuclear or all of the low carbon fuels that are out there," says Energy Secretary Ed Miliband ahead of an announcement on planning changes for new energy infrastructure. Rags Martel reports.
Miliband will announce how the planning process system is being changed to allow for the rapid development of low carbon energy.
He will set out the national need for a new energy infrastructure including renewables, new nuclear and cleaner fossil fuels.
And he is expected to reveal a list of new sites - possibly 11 locations - for new nuclear power plants. In addition, he will outline how the government will make clean coal and how we will pay for it.
Speaking ahead of the announcement Miliband acknowledged anxieties about nuclear power but said it had a "relatively good" safety record in this country.
"The basic message here is, we can't say no to all of the nuclear or all of the low carbon fuels that are out there," he told GMTV.
"We need nuclear, we need renewables, we need clean coal, we need all of those things if we are going to make that transition to cleaner energy."
Under changes to the planning laws, the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) will be able to speed through the proposals for new schemes if it decided they fitted in with the policy statements.
But shadow energy secretary Greg Clark said that a simple ministerial statement on the issue was inadequate and called for a Commons vote to give the process "democratic legitimacy".
