Britain will become increasingly reliant on nuclear power for its energy needs over the next two decades, Business Secretary John Hutton has said.
In an interview with the Financial Times, he said that he had been "very encouraged" by the response from investors to the Government's plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations.
He said that as the new stations came on stream, he expected that they would supply "significantly" more than the 19% of Britain's energy which comes from nuclear sources.
"We need the maximum contribution from nuclear sources in the next 10 to 15 years," he said. "I'd be very disappointed if it's not significantly above the current level."
Mr Hutton said the Government was now keen to fast-track the replacement of the UK's 10 current nuclear power stations, all but one of which is due to close by 2023.
