The following is a statement from Cumbria County Council in response to media coverage of nuclear new build issues and the recent speech by Prime Minister Tony Blair.
County councillor Tim Heslop, cabinet spokesman on nuclear issues, said: "This is not the first indication that energy supply issues might mean that a British Government may decide to build a new generation of nuclear power stations.
"That prospect certainly holds some possibilities for Cumbria, and for West Cumbria in particular, to keep or create skilled and well paid jobs and to bring investment to the area.
"We have made clear to the Government in a considered response to the Energy Review that there are serious issues such as safety, decommissioning costs and dealing with nuclear waste which have to be satisfactorily addressed before we could welcome the prospect of nuclear new build in Cumbria.
"The Prime Minister's speech last night might have put a new generation of reactors on the agenda 'with a vengeance', but we still do not know what the government's new energy policy will actually be. We will wait for the outcome of the Energy Review and the announcement of a formal policy before we make any firm judgements on the implications for Cumbria."