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The Prime Minister said a mix of small nuclear reactors and larger stations are needed to secure supplies. Mr Johnson said Labour failures to put the infrastructure in place left Britain struggling now.<\/p>\n
He said: “The potential of this country is enormous. We have a problem with our energy supplies, we had 13 years in which the Labour government didn’t build a single nuclear reactor and didn’t even greenlight a single nuclear reactor, which was even worse. <\/p>\n
“So, no wonder the French have less of a problem with energy price inflation when they have huge quantities of juice coming from nuclear. <\/p>\n
“This is a country that first split the atom country, this is a country that built the first nuclear reactor called Calder Hall in Cumbria. We are the pioneers. How have we allowed ourselves to be overtaken in this way? And the answer is that we won’t allow ourselves to be overtaken. We will come back from it. <\/p>\n
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“Later on this week, I hope to be saying some more about nuclear power, saying some more about the long-term steps we are taking to make sure that British people have secure energy at a reasonable cost and that British consumers, British families, don’t have to pay so much. That’s what we’ll be doing.<\/p>\n
“It’s not just the big ones, we need to be putting the small modular reactors in as well. We need to play lots of different strokes at the same time. <\/p>\n
“The UK has pioneering technology, and it’s absurd. We are the only country in the world that’s very capable of doing small modular reactor stuff because of what Rolls Royce has been – so let’s get on and do it.”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Tory leadership hopeful is planning to boost energy supplies by inviting applications for drilling licences to explore new fields in the North Sea.<\/p>\n
As many as 130 licences could be issued under the plans to extract gas and oil.<\/p>\n