technologies like wave and tidal stream are still considerable, and costs remain high. Nuclear too has uncertainties, as the cancellation of new programmes in Japan and Italy and the phase out of existing reactors in Germany all show. Our examination of the lessons of Fukushima from Dr Mike Weightman is reassuring about our regulatory regime and about safety, but the economics of new nuclear are still untested. The industry still has to prove that it can build these enormous investments on time and to budget. For all these reasons, our approach is to bring forward a broad portfolio of low carbon technologies: renewables, carbon capture and nuclear. It is the only sensible way to handle risk, as we all know when we run our own pension funds. However attractive one share may look today, it is rash to put all your money into just one stock. Governments should not bet the farm. The past So with my eyes open, and with a nervous look at the past, I say that we need nuclear to be a part of our energy mix in the future. But it is essential to learn from that past. As George J. Stigler said, history is a good teacher but there are inattentive pupils. So today, I want to look at Britain's nuclear past to draw out those lessons. In many ways, Britain is the birthplace of nuclear energy. Like many first-time parents, we tried everything and we did so with enthusiasm. The world's first commercial