Thank you for the invitation for me to speak to you today about nuclear energy in this country and the UK Government's policy position on nuclear.
And before I do this can I extend to you all a very warm welcome to Edinburgh. While mindful that the special beauty of your host last year, Prague, is tough to match, can I suggest a stroll down Princes Street in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle is surely one of the most majestic sights in Europe.
The nuclear industry changed my life. I was born in Scotland but my family emigrated to South Africa in the 1980's as my father got a job helping to build what I think was South Africa's first nuclear power station. That experience shaped my family and my politics.
As many of you will already be well aware, the UK Government see nuclear as a key component of a low carbon, secure energy mix. With this in mind we are well underway with our planning to help enable Britain's next wave of new nuclear power stations. The year has started with huge investment by industry, operators forming joint ventures and supply chain companies hungry to have their slice of the action. All these developments show new nuclear power is becoming a reality, only a year after the White Paper.
Indeed late last month we called on energy companies to nominate sites for new power stations and we published the criteria we will use to assess these sites for their suitability. So Britain is on course for a new generation of nuclear power generators because we are in no doubt as to the importance of nuclear to both our national energy supply security and wider environmental security. At present two-thirds of the world's carbon dioxide comes from energy use, so it is clear why achieving a balanced energy mix is essential to a climate change solution.
It is a source of real regret however that such common sense thinking is not replicated here by the government in Edinburgh. And I will talk briefly about this in a moment.
As a man with Scotland's best interests very much at heart the Prime Minister has made very clear that he will lead a Government that provides strong leadership in meeting not only the challenge of climate change, but in addressing the imperative of ensuring secure energy supplies. This means having reliable access to the energy we need to power our economy, but doing so at affordable prices.
This is why the Government concluded in January last year that nuclear should have a role to play in the future generation of electricity, alongside other low-carbon technologies. Informed by the science, we accepted the Committee on Climate Change's recommendation to tighten up our 2050 target to an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. And as the first country in the world to legislate a carbon reduction target, the UK is already showing international leadership. But as my Ministerial colleague Mike O¿Brien said in Edinburgh only days ago, to meet our carbon emissions targets we will need to decarbonise our electricity generation system more or less completely.
In planning for this we are mindful of the fact that by 2025 all but one of the UK's nuclear power stations will have ended service. While this Government is firmly committed to a low carbon economic recovery; there is no doubting that economic recovery will require stable and secure base load power. And it is worth noting here that without new nuclear while a future Scotland would likely be self sufficient much of the time, it would still be dependent upon electricity supply imported across the border in peak periods. So Scottish self-reliance without new nuclear generation is, frankly, imaginary.
The arguments for nuclear power to contribute to the UK's energy future are therefore multiple. As we all know nuclear is a low-carbon provider of base load. It is also affordable - as one of the cheapest available low-carbon electricity generation technologies. Nuclear is dependable with modern reactors capable of producing electricity reliably. It is safe - backed up by a highly effective regulatory framework. And nuclear is capable of increasing diversity and reducing our dependence on any one technology or country for our energy or fuel supplies.
This is not some view that the UK Cabinet has subscribed to from an ivory tower. It is a view formed through extensive consultation - which was began in May 2007 - and which is one of the big strategic decisions in the long term interests of the country.
We have also listened to the concerns of the genuine sceptics. These concerns are heard and understood. Our nuclear regulators are widely respected - the International Atomic Energy Agency has described the UK's nuclear regulatory arrangements as mature and transparent, with highly trained and experienced inspectors. Yet we continue to work with the NII to further enhance its transparency and efficiency in meeting the challenges posed by new nuclear power stations.
We have accepted the advice of the independent Committee on Radioactive Waste Management and are implementing measures that will deal with both legacy waste and new waste. We have passed legislation to see that energy companies themselves pay for the decommissioning of new power stations and also pay for the management of waste they produce. And as for giving renewables enough space to succeed, on renewables we have pledged a massive tenfold increase. There is no similar deal for nuclear.
Many people do know that nuclear power generated in Scotland has provided homes, businesses and industry with secure supplies of safe, low-carbon electricity for half a century. And they are pleased to find that the next generation of power stations will be even better designed and more efficient than those they will replace. In our discussions around the Cabinet table in Downing Street we have been convinced by the comprehensive evidence for. And it is this evidence that we in turn present when faced with the query of -why nuclear?
In contrast Scotland - or indeed your industry - is yet to hear any convincing energy based argument against nuclear power generation from the SNP led Scottish Government. While they refuse to permit the construction of new reactors here north of the border, they also refuse to offer any sophisticated argument for why this negative policy is in Scotland's interests.
But devolution is a remarkable success here in Scotland and the SNP Scottish government has a constitutional right to be wrong. There are some who seem intent on turning this issue into an ideological debate between renewables or nuclear when in truth Scotland's future should be renewables and nuclear. But there are early signs that greater realism is entering the debate in Scotland and that in a changing world where some countries use energy as a tool of geo-politics nuclear has to be part of the low carbon mix. I am happy to work with the Scottish government on this important issue.
For not to have nuclear would be an opportunity lost - and opportunity lost writ large. It means Scotland misses out on billions of pounds in new investment - both during the construction phase and through the period of the power station's online service. It means Scotland misses out on thousands of good, well paid jobs. The anti-nuclear position means we miss out on a key means to making Scotland a greener producer of base load electricity.
The UK Government's nuclear policy has of course taken shape in the context of recent positive developments on nuclear in Europe as a whole. EU-policy makers recognise nuclear energy as a secure and competitive low carbon energy source. Something of a nuclear re-launch in Europe now sees 8 reactors already under construction or in planning stages.
Nuclear today account for just over 30 percent of electricity production in the European Union and employs some 400,000 people. It saves the emission of nearly 700 million tonnes of CO2 per year in the EU, the equivalent of the carbon dioxide emitted each year by the entire car fleet in Europe.
I am sure many here today will have noted the recently announced Swedish Government plans to overturn a nearly 30-year-old policy to phase out nuclear power and lift a ban on building new reactors. While the decision still needs to be approved by their parliament, leaders of Sweden's coalition government have made clear that new reactors are needed to help combat climate change and secure the nation's energy supply. And there is strong public debate in other European countries on the virtues of phasing out nuclear with Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany all considering their position.
Given this emerging nuclear renaissance in Europe what I do want to see Scotland doing - in addition to reversing it's local construction ban - is ensuring our businesses and industry can service the growing nuclear supply chain. Our universities, research institutions and knowledge centres are first class. And being an export oriented economy with a strong high tech engineering sector - there is much potential for Scottish enterprise to successfully engage with the nuclear energy industry at all levels.
So for a variety of reasons the UK Government is in no doubt as to the importance of nuclear in our future energy mix.
Over the next 10 years as much as a quarter of our current electricity generating capacity may close as existing nuclear plants are decommissioned and as coal-fired and oil-fired plants close under the Large Combustion Plants Directive. And at the same time, very importantly for Scotland, oil and gas from the North Sea is declining. I attended Subsea UK's conference in Aberdeen last Wednesday and I want to make very clear that oil and gas remains a vital energy resource which we must continue to exploit. But this is a middle aged resource not in its infancy and it is of course an energy resource based on carbon intensive fossil fuels.
Energy supply is an increasingly important part of our nation¿s overall security. And yet today we face challenges in securing adequate energy supplies unlike ever before. Those who shirk the issue by either ignoring the problem or putting up insufficient alternatives do our nation a disservice.
For many years Scotland has played an important role in providing nuclear to its people and to people all over the United Kingdom. I firmly hope this continues to be the case in the future because the collective rewards for doing this - both economic and environmental - are substantial.
Thank you again for your time and company today. And best wishes for the 2009 conference.
[ends]
Date: 16 Feb 2009