Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne insisted that Britain is on track to have new nuclear power stations up and running within eight years.

Mr Huhne said a number of potential sites for the stations had been identified - generally close to existing nuclear energy installations - and that power should be on stream by 2018.

He reiterated that the Government would not subsidise the new nuclear power stations but said investors had indicated they were ready to press ahead thanks to rising gas, oil and carbon prices.

Mr Huhne told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme said that the first new nuclear power station opens on time in 2018 and there are a number of sites that have been identified around the country

Mr Huhne said it was "clear" that MPs would vote in favor of new nuclear power stations providing there was no public subsidy involved. Defending the position, he said the government is serious about energy policy merely in terms of whether it is prepared to write very large cheques.

The Energy and Climate Change Secretary, who has been portrayed as an opponent of nuclear power in the past said his views had been "much misunderstood". It has always been clear that the next generation of electricity power stations is going to be built by private investors with a framework put in place.

He had merely pointed out that there had been no private investment since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and there will be investment in new nuclear and that will be an important part of our energy mix - along, of course, with coal and gas, as long as there is carbon capture and storage, and along with renewable.

Nuclear energy split the Conservative and Liberal Democrat partners when the Government was formed in May under the terms of the coalition agreement.