Legal challenge threatens to put "nuclear renaissance" on hold

The government's plans to build a new fleet of nuclear reactors, with the first coming online as early as 2017, were dealt a major blow today when Friends of the Earth threatened a legal challenge to the recently introduced planning policies that will govern the development of future nuclear power plants.

The move also came on the same day as a report from the National Audit Office concluded that it "remains to be seen" if the government can make good on its pledge to deliver a "nuclear renaissance" that will see new reactors built at the earliest possible date and without course to subsidies.

Friends of the Earth confirmed today that it has written to energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband warning that the government's draft energy national policy statements (NPS) are "fundamentally flawed" and could face a legal challenge if they are adopted in their current form.

The national policy statements were released late last year and are meant to set out the framework under which the soon-to-be-launched Infrastructure Planning Commission will judge new project proposals such as nuclear power stations and large wind farms.

In its letter to Miliband, Friends of the Earth said the draft statements wrongly instruct the IPC not to consider the carbon impacts of proposed projects and to regard all new energy infrastructure projects as "needed" – an instruction that the environmental group warned could lock the UK into high-carbon energy infrastructure such as new coal power plants.

It also warned that the government had failed to consult adequately when preparing the statements and failed to follow European legal requirements on strategic environmental assessment, potentially providing the basis of a legal challenge.

The environmental group also signalled that any legal challenge would enjoy the support of the WWF and the RSPB.

Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, Friends of the Earth economy campaigner Simon Bullock said the decision to launch a legal challenge would rest on whether or not the government makes changes to the final version of the statements.

He added that regardless of any potential legal challenge, the government's plan to have the first new nuclear reactor in place by 2017 was looking increasingly optimistic.

"It is not clear if the government can get the consultation around the NPS completed before the election," he observed, adding that the Conservatives had signalled that they want to reform or even scrap the NPS. "The nuclear plant designs being considered also do not yet have regulatory approval from the Health and Safety Executive. When you look at all the challenges, the 2017 timeline looks very premature."

Meanwhile, the National Audit Office today released its report on the government's sale of British Energy, concluding that while the government received a good price for the company, it had failed to secure cast-iron guarantees that new nuclear reactors will be built and will be able to operate without subsidies.

"The government sold its stake in British Energy when energy prices were at a peak, and got a good price," said National Audit Office head Amyas Morse. "The biggest priority for the government was, however, to ensure new nuclear power stations could be built from the earliest possible date and with no public subsidy. Whether it will achieve this remains to be seen."

He added that the Department of Energy and Climate Change now "needs to make real progress on its contingency plans should EDF be unwilling to build new nuclear power stations".