“There has been a transformation in public opinion in the UK largely because people have accepted that nuclear is a safe energy policy and is needed for climate change and energy security demands. These have to be met now. The public see the connections, like in other countries, and say: what are we going to do about it? I think people don’t see nuclear as a safety threat (compared with) the 1980s when we had Chernobyl.” Lord Prescott, former UK Deputy Prime Minister, at a nuclear energy conference organised by the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 25 November