Darling urges faster nuclear replacement

Chancellor Alistair Darling has repeated government calls to fast-track the replacement of Britain’s nuclear power stations.

A nuclear future is required to fight inflation by reducing Britain’s dependence on imported oil, he said in a speech made alongside US treasury secretary Henry Paulson.

The price of oil hit a new high of more than $146 (£74) a barrel yesterday as Darling and Paulson both called for Opec to increase production volumes. The price of oil has risen 500 per cent in six years, driven largely by growing demand from developing nations.

Previous calls by the government to accelerate the replacement of the UK's ageing nuclear power stations have been justified on the grounds of combating climate change.

The government and some eminent environmentalists, such as Gaia-theorist James Lovelock, argue that nuclear power is the only viable short-term replacement for coal- and gas-fired plants. Alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar power are not developing quickly enough to provide reliable supplies, they say.

However, many environmental experts reject this logic and say that if the huge sums of money required for nuclear development were invested in alternative energy sources then they could become viable much more quickly.

But this is the first time nuclear power has been promoted as a tool to fight inflation.

“It is of the utmost importance that we don’t get into a situation where we allow inflation to become entrenched again in the UK,” said Darling.