Start building new atomic stations now, urges British Energy chief

The country should press ahead with building a new generation of atomic power stations to suck in investment and create jobs, British Energy said yesterday. The company, which runs most of Britain's fleet of reactors and which reported a 50% slump in profits yesterday, has held talks with local communities around four possible sites. Bill Coley, the chief executive, said it was important to halt the discussions at some stage and start the serious planning and building phase. "I think it's really important that the country gets on with this. We have a very old generating fleet and the UK needs new capacity. "We can't meet our climate-change obligations without nuclear. It's just got to be done," he said.