New nuclear energy will not need a taxpayers' subsidy

Things have changed. We now face energy shortages and have to decarbonise
Vincent de Rivaz
The Guardian, Tuesday 27 October 2009

Your leader column claims that the "nuclear renaissance" does not make sense on financial grounds (Nuclear power: A bung by any other name, 19 October). However, there is a growing collation of support among the public, politicians of the main parties, industry, scientists and regulators, who recognise nuclear is needed as part of the answer to keep the lights on and tackle climate change.
This was demonstrated in the last two weeks alone by reports from organisations as diverse as the Committee on Climate Change, Ofgem and the CBI. Among this coalition there is recognition that new nuclear can play its part without subsidy from taxpayers.
As a company looking to develop four new reactors in the UK, we have never sought subsidies. Our plans for this much-needed investment are viable without a penny of taxpayers' money.
Many views in last week's coverage reflect an outdated analysis of environmental and energy challenges – from a time when we did not face energy shortages, volatile prices and an urgent need to decarbonise electricity. It is simply wrong to assert that "huge cost overruns" and "massive government bailouts" are inevitable. Claims that nuclear has been subsidised in the past, so must be in the future, fail to recognise that the world has moved on.
Britain faces a serious power shortage if it does not invest massively. At the same time we need to reform the energy market to produce energy which is secure and affordable, and low carbon.
The challenge is encapsulated in the UK's target to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. That will not happen unless we decarbonise electricity generation over the next 20 years, and we will not do this without new nuclear. Recognising this, many environmentalists who were once opposed to new nuclear have recently come to support it.
However, in the current market structure there needs to be more long-term certainty to undertake largescale, 60 year-plus investments. We need a strong, robust carbon price. This is something that anyone who cares about the environment should embrace. It is not an "upfront inducement", but a cost which will make it more expensive for polluters to go on behaving as they have done in the past. It is emphatically not a subsidy for low-carbon technology.
It is also untrue that developing new nuclear "will be a costlier and riskier journey than politicians are currently willing to countenance". EDF believes there is an understanding of the costs, the risks and, above all, the need. The recent report from the prime minister's energy envoy, Malcolm Wicks, suggested that we need to substantially increase the contribution from nuclear. This need is expected to be reaffirmed in the coming weeks in the government's nuclear national policy statement. It is important that this is clear on the contribution required from nuclear.
Decarbonising electricity is a massive commitment that will create significant UK job opportunities. We must achieve it together. We are in a new world and new nuclear needs to be part of the mix.
Vincent de Rivaz is the chief executive of EDF Energy
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