Anyone who went off to the beach a month ago in the expectation that the future of Britain’s nuclear industry had been settled will be returning to a serious disappointment. The structure of the industry is still undecided, while the government maintains the fiction that it is a question that can be resolved by the private sector alone. With the security of Britain’s energy supplies at stake, this muddle and confusion is dismaying.

British Energy is the UK’s principal nuclear generator and owns the great majority of its reactors and most of the best sites for building new ones. At the end of July it seemed that it would fall into the hands of Electricité de France. The deal would have had problematic consequences for competition in Britain’s electricity market, but would have secured EDF’s expertise and financial strength for the UK nuclear industry.