As expected, Britain has announced that it will push forward with a new generation of nuclear-power plants, to supplement other low-emission energy sources as a means of fighting climate change. Nuclear operators say they can get stations running by 2017. Britain gets about 18 percent of its electricity from nuclear power; radioactive waste is currently stored at an “interim” aboveground facility, and the government has vague plans to build underground caverns as a permanent storage site. The country will not subsidize new nuclear-plant construction, but may streamline the planning process, identify possible sites, or offer tax advantages. The issue of nuclear power has divided Europe: France and Finland are also going ahead with new nuclear plants; Italy and Ireland are debating overturning their bans on the energy source; and Germany is staunchly anti-nuclear.
