Comment: Government plans nuclear power expansion

Commenting on Government plans to expand nuclear power in the UK [1], Jess Ralston, analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said: “The Government investing millions of pounds of public money in nuclear should hopefully unleash further private sector investment and experts generally agree that we’ll need some new nuclear in the years ahead. The challenge is the industry has a track record of running over budget and behind schedule, so this does little to boost the UK’s energy security any time soon.

"More offshore wind and insulating homes would help cut the UK’s ties with volatile gas prices, but the Government fumbled the last offshore wind auction and has driven down the number of homes its helping to insulate in the past couple of years.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Biggest expansion of nuclear power for 70 years to create jobs, reduce bills and strengthen Britain’s energy security: https://www.gov.uk/government/...

For more information or for interview requests:

George Smeeton, Head of Communications, ECIU, Tel: +44 (0)7894 571 153, email: george.smeeton@eciu.net