The lights will go out if we avoid the nuclear option, says Darling

Alistair Darling has thrown his weight behind rebuilding the nuclear power industry and plans to use the energy review to push a fast-track planning process for atomic plants, wind farms and even transport schemes.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the new trade and industry secretary gave a blunt warning to householders and local councils that they had to support new power projects in Britain – or the lights would go out.
He also insisted there must be a long-term – preferably European – framework for pricing carbon, a measure that would make oil and gas-fired stations comparatively more expensive than renewables and nuclear.

“We run a serious risk that some day someone will go into the living room, flick the switch and and nothing will happen because we do not have the capability to generate any energy from any source at all,” said Mr Darling.

Britain needed the widest possible energy mix and the minister did not accept that support for one form of energy damaged development of another, as some in the renewable sector have claimed in their arguments against increasing nuclear capacity.

The Guardian