---

Nuclear Industry

I am grateful for that admiration; the feeling is mutual. The Trade and Industry Committee decided to look at three major aspects of the Government’s review of energy policy: nuclear power; local energy, as we call it; and the security of our gas and coal supplies. The report was the first of three, but it was also the most difficult. The debate about nuclear power raises considerable passions. I decided that the Committee could not reach a decision on whether, in Sellar and Yeatman terminology, nuclear power was a good or a bad thing. However, the Committee could inform debates on the subject in the House by looking dispassionately at the issues and reaching definitive judgments on as many of them as possible. Its approach was similar to that adopted by the Defence Committee during the recent consideration of the decision on the replacement of the Trident nuclear deterrent. By way of a tribute to the co-operative spirit of the Trade and Industry Committee, I am delighted that it was able to produce a unanimous report. Irrespective of their long-held views, members of the Committee engaged objectively and dispassionately with the evidence, which is what Select Committees should do. There is one negative conclusion that I should emphasise at the beginning of my remarks: nuclear power is a low-carbon technology. Some campaign groups and, indeed, some hon. Members, argue that, taking full account of construction and decommissioning and the extraction and processing of uranium, the carbon cost of nuclear power is much higher than the industry claims. It is true that nuclear power is not zero-carbon. No energy source of which I am aware is. It is low carbon, just as renewable energy is only low, not zero-carbon. Renewable energy also has carbon costs associated with construction and distribution. However, if we take full account of all stages of the plant’s life cycle, in carbon terms, nuclear is every bit as good as renewable energy in respect of carbon emissions. My Committee agreed unanimously that the often heard argument against nuclear power should not be used.