The government will today reveal plans to fast-track a new generation of nuclear power stations around Britain.
Energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband will unveil policy statements, including a list of sites which could be suitable for building the reactors. He will also set out the need for new energy infrastructure including renewables, fossil fuels and gas, and as an overarching energy statement which will include climate change policy.
Reforms of planning laws would allow the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) to fast-track the developments f they comply with the policy statements.
Ministers are hoping that the reforms will avoid protracted battles over the construction of nuclear plants. It took six years to get the Sizewell B power station through the planning process.
The government is expected to encourage companies such as EDF, E.On, and RWE npower to produce new power stations as early as 2017.
The companies have long argued for a reform to the planning process. An official from the IPC said: "We have always said we would simplify nuclear planning.
"We are streamlining decision making by covering off questions in the policy statements such as whether the technology is safe or whether we even need nuclear power. The planning would then be specific to configuration of that site."
Environmentalists have expressed anger, warning that people will not be able to influence decisions on major projects because schemes covered by the statements will not be subject to a public enquiry.
Dismayed at the prospect of more nuclear power stations, they argue that the government could face legal challenges if its statements do not give adequate weight to climate change.
Friends of the Earth director Andy Atkins said: "Nuclear power leaves a deadly legacy of radioactive waste that remains highly dangerous for tens of thousands of years and costs tens of billions of pounds to manage.
"And building new plants would divert precious resources from developing safe renewable power, while doing little to bring about the urgent emissions reductions that are desperately needed within the next decade."
Robin Oakley, head of Greenpeace's climate and energy campaign, said: "Nuclear is a dangerous and expensive irrelevance to tackling climate change and providing real energy security.
"We don't need coal or nuclear, because proven green technologies such as wind and combined heat and power stations can secure Britain's energy needs, create green jobs and slash our emissions."
Miliband said that the transition to a low-carbon economy would be a big challenge. He said: "We now need to move on to getting the actions in place to make it happen.
"That is why the national policy statements and Infrastructure Planning Commission are important, because the truth is that we are not going to be able to deliver a 21st Century energy system with a 20th Century planning system."
