Blair Backs Nuclear Power to Tackle Climate, Energy Security

The U.K. needs nuclear power to meet its twin challenges of securing energy supplies and reducing emissions of gases that cause global warming, Prime Minister Tony Blair said.

“I don’t think we will tackle climate change” and energy security “effectively unless nuclear power is part of it,” Blair said in Davos, Switzerland, where he’s attending the World Economic Forum.
The U.K. government is likely to approve a new generation of nuclear power stations in coming months as the country attempts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and secure alternatives to fading North Sea oil and gas reserves.

“We are going to move from self sufficiency in gas to importing 90 percent of it,” he said. Faced with that reality and the need to reduce carbon emissions he said, “how are we going to do that without nuclear being part of this mix?”

Blair said a new “climate change bill in the next few weeks” will allow “individuals and businesses to help” reduce emissions.

Bloomberg