Making the nuclear switch
Updated on 20 May 2007
The coming test for Gordon Brown this week to meet our future energy needs and cut carbon emissions.
The cooling towers at Chapelcross nuclear power station in Scotland - today came tumbling down - but the government hasn't cooled on its belief that nuclear power has a future.
Gordon Brown will back the plans for building new nuclear power plants which will be set out in the energy white paper published this week, although the soon to be Prime Minister believes there needs to be proper consultation.
As computers, ovens, and TVs keep being switched on - the fear is that there wont be enough energy to keep them on, and power cuts could hit homes and businesses unless there are new sources of energy.
And so the white paper is expected to back the building of more nuclear power stations, as well as promoting renewable energy - like wind, wave and solar power.
The governments challenge is to find more power and to make it clean - to reach the ambitious European target that 20 per cent of energy should come from renewable sources by 2020.
But the government won't pay for new power stations or subsidise them - and although it says it will consult widely this time - it must do better than last year when the courts ruled it hadn't happened properly.
The Severn estuary could be one alternative source of power - the surf created by the regular tidal bore wave moving upstream is unimpressive but ministers believe a giant barrage would be a green energy source that should be seriously considered - yet environmentalists are against it.
Around eight new nuclear power stations could be built on the site of the old ones and tomorrow new proposals on planning could mean a speeding up of the planning process for controversial energy projects.
