LONDON -- Is Britain about to reverse its policy on civil nuclear power? Could the British policymakers be reluctantly coming to accept that while the official energy policy is to keep only one nuclear power station going after 2020 it may in practice be necessary to build some more in order to ensure reliable electricity supplies and keep pace with ever-growing demand?
The prospect makes the architects of current policy profoundly unhappy. They had quite a different dream. It was to reduce carbon dioxide emissions drastically not by going back to nuclear power, clean though it is, but by dramatic increases in alternative energy sources, notably wind power.
Backed by green enthusiasts and opponents of nuclear power, the government has encouraged the erection of wind mills both on land and offshore around Britain, the theory being that the plentiful and frequent winds that blow round the British Isles will fill the generating gap and keep the lights on and the factories humming.