Energy minister Malcolm Wicks is due to hold one-to-one meetings with cabinet ministers in the coming weeks to brief them on the progress of the government's energy review and sound out their concerns. The review is intended to look at a range of technologies that can deliver 'carbon-free' and secure energy in the future, as the 20 per cent of generation capacity supplied by Britain's current nuclear facilities declines steeply.

The review does not report until later in the summer, but Tony Blair has indicated he believes nuclear should be part of the solution. Several cabinet ministers - thought to include Margaret Beckett, Peter Hain and Hilary Benn - have deep reservations about nuclear power. One said: 'Gordon Brown told the cabinet that the combined clean-up costs would be £90bn, not the £70bn that has been stated. That is a massive cost.' The Treasury is known to have serious misgivings about a new nuclear building programme because the cost of constructing and decommissioning stations constantly rises.

 
Independent experts say these concerns are justified, and that the £90bn figure is entirely plausible. One senior official said that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which published the £70bn figure, had itself warned that the total could rise. On top of that, there is an additional £14bn needed to dismantle the eight second-generation stations owned by British Energy and the eventual costs of a deep underground store, estimated at between £15bn and £20bn.
 
Observer 4th June 2006
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1789671,00.html