A new report argues that Britain can avoid a major electricity shortfall if it can overcome excessively cautionary regulation and lengthy, litigious planning processes.
Throughout Expediting Civil Nuclear Power in the UK: The new ‘Golden Age’, Dr Robert Craig proposes two legislative solutions:
using Hybrid or Private Acts of Parliament to grant development consent directly, removing the possibility of legal challenge, and establishing a new Nuclear Appeal Tribunal to resolve technical disputes quickly and balance safety requirements against wider societal and economic needs.
Adopting this approach should permit rapid, affordable nuclear construction—securing the reliable, clean energy which Britain will need. In contrast, current UK energy policy remains in the grip of minister Ed Miliband, a staunch advocate of ‘Net Zero’ and (unreliable) ‘clean energy’/renewables.
The report is the first published by Policy Exchange’s new Nuclear Enterprise Commission. Significantly, it comes amid a leftist campaign to strip the think tank of its charitable status, with a view to closing it down. Self-beclowning censorship network The Good Law Project accused Policy Exchange of not fulfilling its educational objectives and alleged that its trustees show an “unhealthy obsession with transgender issues,” prompting a compliance investigation by regulator The Charity Commission.
