Governments in nuclear fall out

The Government published a list of potential sites for new nuclear power stations on Wednesday but none of the potential sites is in Scotland, where the SNP administration is opposed to new nuclear power stations being built.

Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband took a swipe at the SNP's position as he prepared to visit the Hunterston nuclear station in Ayrshire before taking part in a Cabinet meeting in Glasgow.

But Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond hit back, accusing Mr Miliband of "launching a nuclear strike" against the energy policy choice of the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament.

Mr Miliband said those who cared about climate change should not rule out "clean" fuel sources such as renewables, nuclear power or clean coal. And he said some former opponents of nuclear power had changed their minds because of the threat of climate change.

"It's happening in Sweden and Finland, both of which are countries that the First Minister admires," Mr Miliband told BBC Radio Scotland's Reporting Scotland. "And I think it is right not to have ideological hang-ups about this but to reconsider the position.

"That's what the UK Government did, that's why we opened the way yesterday, with our strategic siting assessment, to a new generation of nuclear power stations."

He said each nuclear power station provided 9,000 jobs. And he said of the SNP's stance: "I think that's a shame for Scotland in industrial terms, and I don't think it's the right decision for the UK in energy terms, but it does remain a decision for Scotland."

Mr Salmond said the energy situation in Scotland and England was different. The First Minister added: "I'm not sure he understands that south of the border they are facing an electricity shortage and therefore there's a rush to develop every single form of power as quickly as possible.

"In Scotland, we have the potential for vast electricity surpluses - perhaps, in future, up to 10 times our current electricity requirements."