Nuclear power: Eight sites identified for future plants

Mr Huhne said the country needed a diverse energy mix with contributions from all sectors but with more emphasis on renewables such as wind power.

“I’m fed up with the stand-off between advocates of renewables and of nuclear which means we have neither,” he said.

“We urgently need investment in new and diverse energy sources to power the UK. We’ll need renewables, new nuclear, fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage and the cables to hook them all up to the National Grid as a large slice of our current generating capacity shuts down.”

Many Lib Dem MPs have traditionally been opposed to further nuclear expansion but Mr Huhne told the BBC the issue was not a “toxic” one among his colleagues.

A majority of MPs in Parliament – including most Conservatives and Labour members – are in favour of building more nuclear plants and Mr Huhne said the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition agreement had made it “very clear” nuclear would be included in the country’s future energy mix.

“A deal is a deal. I am there to deliver it,” he said.