NUCLEAR power is a renewable energy source, a
government minister has declared, indicating a growing acceptance that
future energy sources will have to be nuclear.
In a debate on energy security in the House of Lords, Lord
Sainsbury of Turville, the Science and Innovation Minister, was asked
whether he would reclassify nuclear as renewable energy. He said: “Lady
O’Cathain offered me the opportunity of . . . agreeing that nuclear is
a renewable source of energy — it clearly is so.”
Lord Sainsbury’s declaration last Thursday
provides more evidence that the anti-nuclear stance of the Government
is shifting in response to mounting concern about an emerging energy
deficit.
A decision to reclassify nuclear as a renewable source of
energy would have dramatic consequences. Nuclear generators would be
exempted, like wind turbines, from the Climate Change Levy, a tax borne
by the nuclear industry despite its carbon-free advantage. It would
also force a rethink of the renewables obligation, which requires
utilities to buy 10 per cent of their electricity from renewable
sources by 2010.
-----------------------
Complete article The Times
-----------------------
