But Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said Dungeness in Kent and both Braystones and Kirksanton in Cumbria were not suitable for environmental reasons.

Huhne also scrapped the £30bn Severe barrage scheme today on cost grounds

The possible nuclear locations are: Bradwell, Essex; Hartlepool; Heysham, Lancashire; Hinkley Point, Somerset; Oldbury, Gloucestershire; Sellafield, Cumbria; Sizewell, Suffolk and Wylfa on the Isle of Anglesey.

Huhne said the country needed a diverse energy mix with contributions from all sectors but with more emphasis on renewables such as wind power.

He said: “I’m fed up with the stand-off between advocates of renewables and of nuclear which means we have neither.

“We urgently need investment in new and diverse energy sources to power the UK.

“We’ll need renewables, new nuclear, fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage and the cables to hook them all up to the National Grid as a large slice of our current generating capacity shuts down.

“I am making clear that new nuclear will be free to contribute as much as possible with the onus on developers to pay for the clean-up.”