Use atomic power to fight global warming: UK

London, Jul 12: Britain must build new nuclear power stations, generate more electricity from wind and waves and curb domestic demand in the battle against global warming, Trade Secretary Alistair Darling said.

He also stressed the need to guarantee security of supplies and reduce rising dependence on imported oil and gas as supplies from the North Sea dwindle.

''There are two big challenges we have got to face. One is climate change because we can't go on pumping carbon into the atmosphere. The second is security of supply. If we don't do anything we will be importing more gas from sometimes pretty unstable parts of the world,'' Darling told BBC radio yesterday.

''In relation to nuclear, which ... has been part of the energy mix in this country and should remain so, if we don't do anything it will reduce from producing about 20 percent of our electricity today to six per cent in about 20 years,'' he added.

He was speaking ahead of presenting to parliament the eagerly awaited Energy Review setting out the structure of Britain's electricity network for future generations.

The decision to back a new generation of nuclear power plants as all but one of Britain's ageing reactors will close within two decades will boost the global nuclear industry as it starts to recover from the Chernobyl explosion in 1986.

Nuclear power, seen by some as a weapon in the fight against global warming because it emits no climate changing carbon gases, and energy security will also dominate the agenda at this weekend's summit in Russia of the Group of Eight rich nations.

Darling said renewables, that supply only four per cent of Britain's electricity, should do far more but would not be able to plug the gap as the old nuclear and coal plants close.

''I don't think they can fill the whole gap. I think we can do an awful lot more,'' he said.

''My fear is that if you don't do anything else you are going to get more gas-fired power stations which is not good for the atmosphere and it is not good because you tend to import.''

WIND TURBINES

The government wants power companies get more of their supplies from renewables and to boost local generation like rooftop wind turbines and solar panels.

It also wants to streamline the planning process to avoid lengthy and costly delays.

But it has a dilemma in that it has also repeatedly ruled out any public subsidies for new nuclear power stations in view of the 70 billion pounds it will cost to clean up the lethal waste from the existing fleet.

Generators including British Energy and EdF have said they would be prepared to commit private finance to building new nuclear plants in return for contracts guaranteeing prices.

Analysts say this would be a subsidy by another name.

''One thing I am absolutely clear about is that it is for generators to come forward with proposals for whatever form of generation they think appropriate, whether it is nuclear, renewables or whatever,'' Darling said.

Environmentalists complain that, by focusing solely on electricity, the review has ignored energy use in industry and transport. Electricity generation accounts for just 18 percent of Britain's energy consumption.

REUTERS