On a recent Radio 4 Today programme, John Hutton MP, business, enterprise and regulatory reform secretary, repeated what the government has said on previous occasions — that no subsidies would be provided for new nuclear power stations.
But in the UK, as in many other countries, nuclear power enjoys a very large subsidy because it is required to pay only a small fraction of the cost of insuring fully against a Chernobyl-style disaster or worse. Details of the size of this subsidy are given in Helen Caldicott's book
Nuclear Power is Not the Answer.
If the government is serious in saying that there would be no subsidies for nuclear power, then it should require the industry to pay the full cost of insuring against disasters, without any limitations on liabilities.
Dr Gerry Wolff, by email
Arriva makes £300m tri-mode train order with Hitachi Rail
This development shows up the lack of a comprehensive nationwide network of electrified lines for passenger services and freight The glacial speed of...