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Ministers back nuclear power plan
Ministers unanimously backed plans for new nuclear power without a vote at Tuesday's cabinet meeting.
The BBC said Gordon Brown's cabinet had "agreed in principle" to support a new generation of nuclear power stations.
Business secretary John Hutton is expected to formally announce the decision in a statement to MPs on Thursday.
He is predicted to say there will be no limit on the amount of electricity the nuclear industry can supply to the grid.
At present, nuclear power supplies a fifth of energy in the UK.
The prime minister told the Observer on Sunday that a decision on future energy supplies was "a fundamental precondition" of preparing Britain for the future.
But firms winning contracts to build nuclear stations will have to pay for decommissioning them, the prime minister's spokesman said on Monday.
Greenpeace predicts the cost of decommissioning will rise to up to £70 billion.
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