"If you had asked me 20 years ago about nuclear power, I would have taken the traditional green view and said something like 'over my dead body'. To achieve decarbonisation of our power, nuclear has to be part of the answer." Lord Smith, chairman of the British Environment Agency on 7 May 2012 (source: Financial Times)

"We won't meet the carbon targets if nuclear is taken off the table... Emissions per unit of energy need to fall by a factor of six. That means electrifying everything that can be electrified and then making electricity largely carbon-free. It requires renewable energy, nuclear and carbon capture and storage – these are all very big challenges. We need to understand the scale of the challenge." Jeffrey Sachs, American Economist and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, on 3 May 2012 (source: Guardian)

"You (Japan) must have enough energy to power households, industries and infrastructures. It is one of the conditions to foster economic growth. You cannot substitute 30 per cent of (nuclear) installed capacity overnight." OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria said on a visit to Japan on 24 April 2012

"E.ON and RWE's withdrawal is clearly very disappointing, but the partners have clearly explained that this decision was based on pressures elsewhere in their businesses and not any doubts about the role of nuclear in UK's energy future. The UK's new nuclear programme is far more than one consortia and there remains considerable interest. Plans from EDF/Centrica and Nugen are on track and Horizon's sites offer new players an excellent ready-made opportunity to enter the market."Charles Hendry, UK Energy Minister on 29 March 2012

"If we went all the way attempting to provide the energy we need with offshore wind I believe the costs to the UK taxpayer would be simply phenomenal. They are extremely expensive to install and expensive to maintain. Substantial additional decarbonisation will require clear policies to make it happen, in nuclear and other low carbon energy markets." Professor David King says in a report published on 15 March by the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University (source: NucNet)