Nuclear Given The Go Ahead In Suffolk

18 October 2010, 14:19 | Updated: 18 October 2010, 14:21

The government's announced 8 sites which are suitable for new nuclear power stations - and Sizwell in Suffolk is on that list.

All the potential new sites are in the vicinity of existing nuclear power plants. In this case there is already a Sizewell A and B - so this would be Sizewell C.

Three other proposed sites - at Dungeness in Kent, and Braystones and Kirksanton in Cumbria - were ruled out.

The sites were announced as part of a package aimed at providing certainty for the industry, including more detail on what would be required in terms of clean-up and the Government's policy of no subsidies.

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said: "I'm fed up with the stand-off between advocates of renewables and of nuclear which means we have neither."

"We urgently need investment in new and diverse energy sources to power the UK - we'll need renewables, new nuclear, fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage, and the cables to hook them all up to the Grid as a large slice of our current generating capacity shuts down."

"I am making clear that new nuclear will be free to contribute as much as possible with the onus on developers to pay for the clean-up."

The coalition's revised draft national policy statements on energy show that half the new energy capacity built in the UK by 2025 was expected to come from renewables - the majority of which is likely to be wind energy.

However, the Government dropped plans for large-scale tidal schemes in the Severn estuary, after considering five proposals for three barrages and two 'innovative' lagoon-type energy projects to harness the power of the tides.