10-mile Severn barrier costing £14bn could tap tidal power for 5% of Britain's electricity

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The £14billion project, which could supply 5 per cent of the UK's electricity and create 40,000 jobs, was hailed by Business Secretary John Hutton as "breathtaking".

His endorsement infuriated environmental groups.

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The Severn Estuary: A tidal barrage here could produce as much as a 20th of the UK's electricity - and create up to 40,000 jobs

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said the barrage would put thousands of birds and fish at risk.

Ministers argue, however, that green groups cannot sensibly reject both nuclear power and big renewable energy projects.

Mr Hutton said: "The Severn Estuary has some of the best tidal potential in the world and could more than double the current UK supply of renewable electricity, and contribute significantly to targets for renewable energy and CO2 emissions reduction.

Business Secretary John Hutton claims the Severn Estuary 'could more than double the current UK supply of renewable electricity'.

"We must understand the cost and the impact that a project of this scale could have, not least the environmental, social and economic effects.

"But the need to take radical steps to tackle climate change is now beyond doubt. Tough choices need to be made."

Under the Severn scheme, more than 200 turbines would be constructed between a point south of Cardiff and Weston-super-Mare in Somerset.

Mr Hutton has ordered a feasibility study into the costs, benefits and the impact of a tidal barrier.

Greenpeace director John Sauven said: "We agree that we need to exploit the UK's potential to generate renewable power.

"But the Government needs to be absolutely sure that they can justify spending huge sums of public money on this one-off barrage project rather than invest in other renewable technologies like wind, wave and tidal stream that would create more jobs, could be used in many locations around the world, and would almost certainly be much cheaper."