British Energy's announcement that it is not going ahead with the proposed Sizewell C or Hinkley C nuclear reactors finally confirms the death of nuclear power, Friends of the Earth said today.

Dr Patrick Green, Friends of the Earth's Senior Energy Campaigner said:

"This is the final nail in the nuclear coffin and the end of the nuclear dream. No more nuclear power stations will be built in the UK."

The end of the nuclear dream began in 1989 with the Government's withdrawal of the nuclear generators from electricity privatisation and the announcement of a review of prospects for nuclear power to be held in 1994.

The industry's case for new reactors went into rapid decline immediately before the Nuclear Review. In January 1994, Nuclear Electric claimed that it could raise private sector finance for a new nuclear power station without any Government support. Yet, only six months later, it acknowledged that a new station would need approximately o1 billion of Government subsidy.This subsidy, it was claimed, was justified because nuclear power was essential to fight climate change.

The May 1995 White Paper, "The Prospects for Nuclear Power" was a resounding rejection of all of the nuclear industry's arguments for new nuclear power station construction. Without Government support, the end of nuclear power in the UK was inevitable.

Dr Patrick Green concluded;

"The nuclear industry's future now lies in cleaning up the legacy of radioactive waste created by its 50 year failed experiment with nuclear power"