It's only a matter of time the way things are a href=mailto:going

It's only a matter of time the way things are going.j.warner independent.co.uk. City traders were once again gripped by takeover fever. The view from the Square Mile is that companies and private-equity firms are awash with cash and desperate to make acquisitions. This has made it relatively easy to get the market excited by even the most vague of bid stories. The minister responsible, Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, is in any case keen to give renewables a chance before venturing into the nuclear debate. Few would want to invest in renewables, he would argue, if they knew there was a Government-underwritten programme of new nuclear heading down the road.Other countries are proving more decisive. Both China and India have announced massive nuclear programmes in an attempt to address their growing energy needs.

Our own energy requirements are expected to grow far less dramatically. Indeed, with the right cocktail of incentives on energy efficiency, particularly in the household sector, they might even decline.All the same, ministers would be ill-advised to rely entirely on renewables and the market to solve our long-term energy needs. If the lights go off, it will be the Government that gets the blame. On a number of occasions of peak demand in recent years, the industry has come perilously close to ordering blackouts. Technical advances mean the latest generation of designs are more fuel efficient and therefore produce less waste. Certainly at the present level of energy prices they are more than economic.

Furthermore, the uranium feedstock can be accessed, unlike gas, from reliable and friendly nations like Australia and Canada.Even so, it's impossible to believe that any new nuclear build could be privately financed without some form of government guarantee. Given the long lead times involved, financiers would have to be certain of the price that could be charged. Any mishap on the costs of decommissioning or safety would also have to be underwritten by the Government.Might Labour be persuaded? The time to have announced a new programme of nuclear build, or at least a consultation on it, was immediately after the election, when politically the controversies involved would have easier to weather. The closer the Government gets to the next election, the more reluctant it will be to brave the waters.Tony Blair was once all for it, then he seemed to lose his enthusiasm, conceding that the public may not be ready for it yet. Furthermore, because our own North Sea supplies of natural gas are running out, the country would become ever more dependent on imported gas, much of it from politically unstable regions of the world.All this brings us to the question of whether the Government should be sponsoring a new generation of nuclear plants. Whatever the Government's emissions targets, past experience would argue against it. With the possible exception of the early magnox stations, Britain's post-war experiment with nuclear power has been a hugely costly mistake.