No nuclear surprises from UK coalition

20 May 2010

Full details of the UK coalition government's policy program have been released but there were no surprises for the nuclear power industry. As noted in an announcement immediately after the agreement between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, the policy notes the Lib Dems' opposition to new nuclear construction in contrast with the Conservatives' commitment to allow the replacement of existing nuclear plants, provided they are not publicly subsidised. It promises to allow Lib Dems to maintain their opposing stance while allowing the government to make new nuclear construction possible by bringing forward the National Planning Statement for ratification by parliament. However, the policy also sees the abolition of the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC), an independent body established by the previous government to make decisions on applications for nationally significant infrastructure projects with the intention of speeding the planning process. The new government says it will replace the IPC with "an efficient and democratically accountable system that provides a fast-track process for major infrastructure projects," but what that system will be - and when it will be put in place - remains to be seen. The policy also includes a commitment to introduce a floor price for carbon, and pledges the government's support to an increase in European Union emission reduction targets to 30% by 2020. The coalition says it will cut carbon emissions from central government by 10% within 12 months.