EXCLUSIVE: Blair report to veto more nuclear plants

But wind and waves can power Britain

by Rob Edwards , Environment Editor
January 10, 2026

Sunday Herald

NUCLEAR power? No thanks. That's the message Tony Blair's advisers will give the nuclear power industry this week when its
shopping list of subsidies for up to 15 new power stations is rejected.

The Sunday Herald can reveal that the Prime
Minister's much-heralded energy review will bitterly disappoint the multi-million pound industry and its supporters in government. But it will be welcomed by Scottish ministers who have been pressing for a non-nuclear energy strategy.
Insiders say the review, which is being conducted by the Prime
Minister's Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU), will show the UK can meet its energy needs and cut pollution without building
any new nuclear stations. 'The reality is that the nuclear industry is facing extinction,' said Stewart Boyle, an expert
from the specialist journal, Energy Economist.

'The PIU is rapidly moving towards a conclusion
that renewables, combined heat and power and conservation, alongside a strong role
for gas, can take the UK energy economy forward successfully over
the next 20 years while meeting economic, security and sustainability criteria.' This is a major setback for the pro-nuclear energy minister Brian Wilson who has been
chairing the review. He has been fighting a rearguard action in support of
nuclear power, which has resulted in private
clashes with experts on the review team.

In public Wilson is now beginning to distance
himself from the review, warning the nuclear industry last week not to expect too
much from it. The only concession he has won is that nuclear stations should be exempt from the climate change levy as they do
not produce the pollution that causes global
warming.

But this will not be enough to save nuclear power, which is more
expensive than other forms of generation because of the high costs of dealing with radioactive waste. The only role for new
reactors envisaged by the PIU team is as an
insurance if the planned expansion of renewable energy falters. However, the
gigantic potential of power from the wind, waves and tides is about to be given an unprecedented boost by the Scottish Executive. Tomorrow environment and rural
development minister Ross Finnie is publishing the first full assessment of the
contribution that renewable sources could
practically make.
The results, which have taken aback even die-hard renewable enthusiasts, are revolutionary. Thousands of wind turbines on
land and at sea, wave power machines and
underwater tidal generators could provide 10 times more electricity than Scotland
needs.

The study, by energy consultants Garrad Hassan, concludes that
renewables in Scotland could produce a massive 60 gigawatts of
power, three quarters of the installed generating capacity of the
UK as a whole. This could be done taking into
account all the technical and economic barriers and without damaging any scenic
or nature conservation areas.

Environmentalists say the potential is
'staggering' and shows how
Scotland's renewable energy capacity has been seriously underestimated in the past. It also kills off the hopes harboured
by the power company British Energy of building new reactors to
replace those at Hunterston in Ayrshire and
Torness in East Lothian.

'This report sounds the death knell for nuclear
new-build in Scotland,' said Kevin Dunion, chief executive of Friends of the
Earth Scotland.

'Environmentally nuclear plants cannot compete, for although they
produce no carbon dioxide emissions in generation, they leave a
legacy of radioactive wastes which have to be
safely contained for thousands of years.'

A British Energy spokesman said: 'There's been a
lot of speculation about what may or may not come out of the review.
Let's wait and see what the report says when it comes out.' The review is due to be delivered to Blair before Christmas and
published in the New Year.

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