Labour goes nuclear

At first when I read this Labour goes nuclear but row erupts over who will foot bill I thought, that perhaps the government had been cunningly green: 'yes you can have nuclear power but you will pay all the costs' "Private companies who wanted to build new stations would have to pay for the entire cost while 'meeting the full costs of decommissioning and their full share of waste management costs', argued Hutton who said atomic power was needed to reduce carbon and the growing reliance on energy imports." It would have been vaguely good news, because as I've written before, it looks unlikely that unsubsidised nuclear power could actually survive in a power market.
HOWEVER
all is not really so good:

he government is effectively making electricity generated by coal or gas more expensive by promising "greater certainty for investors" through unilateral action to underpin the price of carbon. Coal and gas power stations emit relatively large quantities of CO2 for which they will need costly permits while atomic power is virtually carbon free.

· The public purse could ultimately be used for all decommissioning of new plants and waste disposal. The current bill for dismantling existing plants is estimated at over £70bn with an additional £20bn for the disposal of waste.

· Ministers are also looking at putting a ceiling on the price private firms will have to pay for dismantling reactors at the end of their life, reducing companies' risks and making it cheaper for them to borrow.

Grrrr!