Exclusive: Nuclear planning statements to be delivered next month

The government will release its long-awaited National Policy Statements for new nuclear build in November, climate change minister David Kidney told a CBI conference today.

The Statements, which will be released for consultation, are designed to give energy firms an indication of the legislative framework they will have to comply with as they start planning the new nuclear reactors that are regarded by the government as crucial to meeting the UK's carbon emission targets.

The energy industry has been increasingly critical of the government's failure to release the Statements, arguing that the lack of certainty surrounding the planning and regulatory framework was delaying proposals for new reactors.

However, Kidney said the Department of Energy and Climate Change was now putting the finishing touches to the draft documents. "We're currently looking at which is the earliest day in November that we can publish the whole pack for public consultation," he told an audience of industry executives meeting in London.

He added that the publication of the Statements would be a major milestone in the development of the UK's so-called "nuclear renaissance", and that he hoped it would spur public and media debate around new nuclear power.

Kidney's comments come a day after the CBI released a major report calling for the UK's nuclear programme to be sped up, and warning that 16GW of new nuclear power needs to be built on existing nuclear sites if carbon-reduction targets are to be met. The report also highlighted the lack of Policy Statements and failure to designate waste disposal sites as barriers to further development of the industry.

But Kidney today challenged the report's conclusions, claiming that the UK had one of the best regulatory systems for nuclear power in the world and that a number of "communities" had already come forward expressing an interest in being a potential site for nuclear waste disposal.

Martin Lawrence, chief operating officer at energy firm EDF, which hopes to build four new reactors in the UK by 2020, welcomed the impending release of the Policy Statements.

"I'm delighted to hear of a November date for the Policy Statements but I'm concerned by the word 'draft'," he said.

It is not yet clear how long the government consultation on the Statements will last.

Lawrence added: "[The Statements] must be clear, specific and robust. National Policy Statements matter too much to get it wrong."