PARIS, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Britain has ambitious plans for nuclear power expansion but it will not subsidise this development, UK Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said on Tuesday.
Britain will let private utilities freely set up the country's energy mix, Wicks also said in a press briefing at the British Embassy.
Asked how many nuclear reactors would be built in Britain after the government gave the go ahead last week to a new generation of nuclear power stations, Wicks said:
"We don't have a figure in our mind, but I think we are ambitious for it for reasons of climate change and energy security."
He said he could not give a percentage on what the nuclear share of Britain's energy mix would be.
"I can't give you a percentage. I think it will be very significant... We basically want to take carbon out of electricity with a combination of reneweables and nuclear."
"Our objective as a government is not to say we'll do x percent of electricity from this energy and x percent from that energy.... What the mix will actually look like in terms of renewables and nuclear is largely for the market to set."
(Reporting by Marie Maitre)