Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. Cabinet gave the go-ahead for a new generation of nuclear plants, setting the stage for a clash with environmentalists, who say the option is unsafe.

``There was a very good discussion with many interventions,'' Emily Hands, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown, told reporters in London. Asked if any ministers had opposed building new plants, she said: ``Not that I'm aware of.''

The decision clears the way for Britain to embark on its first program of building nuclear power plants for more than a decade. A quarter of U.K. generation capacity will go off line by 2015. Brown argued for nuclear power to fill the shortfall to help meet targets for cutting carbon emissions and secure energy supplies. Nuclear power currently accounts for about a fifth of electricity output.

Business Secretary John Hutton will make a statement on energy strategy to Parliament on Jan. 10. The plans for new nuclear power plants are opposed by environmental groups including Greenpeace that cite accidents such as the explosion at Chernobyl in 1986. They want more wind and wave power generation and a push to improve energy efficiency. ]

``Going for nuclear allows politicians like Gordon Brown to project the impression that they are taking difficult decisions,'' Greenpeace director John Sauven said today in a statement. ``In reality, new nuclear power stations simply will not solve our energy problems.''

Decommissioning Costs

Ministers were forced to re-run a consolation with industry and environmental groups about the issue after Greenpeace won a High Court ruling striking down the last review as inadequate because it failed to take account of the cost of nuclear waste.

Companies building and running the plants will take on the liabilities for decommissioning them, the government said yesterday. Such costs will top 48 billion pounds ($95 billion) for the 21 existing U.K. nuclear facilities. Operators would have to pay their ``fair share'' of the costs of waste disposal.

Toshiba's Westinghouse Electric Co., Canada's AECL Inc., Areva SA and General Electric Co. have said they're interested in getting approval for their reactor designs. E.ON and Electricite de France SA have expressed interest in building nuclear plants. British Energy Group Plc is seeking partners to replace plants at its existing atomic sites.

Unlike coal- and gas-fired plants, nuclear reactors produce virtually no emissions of carbon dioxide, the gas responsible for global warming, according to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

The U.K. has set a target of cutting its carbon emissions by a quarter by 2020. Renewable sources account for less than 5 percent of total electricity supply.

Brown and his predecessor, Tony Blair, also argued that nuclear power would cut dependence on imported fossil fuels.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net. Mark Deen in London at markdeen@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 8, 2008 13:59 EST