Nuclear Generation (Hansard, 24 July 1989)

§ Mr. Greg Knight
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what proportion of electricity is generated by nuclear power in(a) France, (b) Belgium, (c) Sweden, Switzerland, (e) Finland, (f) West Germany, (g) Spain and (h) the United Kingdom.

§ Mr. Michael Spicer
The latest available published information (1987) is as follows(a) France 70.1 per cent.; (b) Belgium 62.2 per cent.; (c) Sweden 45.9 per cent.; (d) Switzerland 38.4 per cent.; (e) Finland 36.7 per cent.; (f) West Germany 31.2 per cent.; (g) Spain 30.9 per cent.; (h) the United Kingdom 18.2 per cent.
Source: "Energy Statistics 1986–87" (OECD/IEA).

§ Mr. Graham Allen
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy whether he has any proposals to require that a minimum percentage of electricity distributed by the electricity boards will come from electricity produced by nuclear generation.

§ Mr. Michael Spicer
Clause 34 of the Electricity Bill permits the Secretary of State to make orders to require public electricity suppliers to have available to them a certain minimum amount of non-fossil generating capacity. This is intended to encourage all economically viable and environmentally acceptable non-fossil sources. There is no intention to restrict such orders solely to nuclear generation.