TONY BLAIR sparked a huge row over nuclear power last night when he suddenly announced that replacement of Britain's existing nuclear power stations was now "back on the agenda with a vengeance".

Opponents of nuclear power accused the Prime Minister of being "hell bent" on its promotion, while a Labour MP described the move as an act of "desperation".

In a speech to the annual dinner in London of the CBI, Mr Blair disclosed the "stark" facts of the country's potential future reliance on foreign gas imports.

He said: "Essentially, the twin pressures of climate change and energy security are raising energy policy to the top of the agenda in the UK and around the world.

"Yesterday, I received the first cut of the energy review. The facts are stark. By 2025, if current policy is unchanged there will be a dramatic gap on our targets to reduce CO2 emissions, we will become heavily dependent on gas and at the same time move from being 80-90 per cent self-reliant in gas to 80-90 per cent dependent on foreign imports, mostly from the Middle East, and Africa and Russia.

"These facts put the replacement of nuclear power stations, a big push on renewables and a step change on energy efficiency, engaging both business and consumers, back on the agenda with a vengeance."

Mr Blair's comments come a week after The Northern Echo revealed that one of the world's biggest chemical companies has offered to part-finance a new nuclear power plant in the North-East.

Huntsman has said it will help offset the estimated £1bn building cost by signin

g a 20-year deal to take the plant's power.

With other Teesside chemical companies also willing to enter into long-term contracts, it greatly increases the chances of Hartlepool's nuclear power station being replaced when it is decommissioned in 2014.

The Department of Trade and Industry has been giving the Prime Minister regular updates on the energy review, with an official announcement expected in the summer.

Friends of the Earth director Tony Juniper said: "Increasingly, it looks like the energy consultation has been a complete sham.

"It's clear that Tony Blair is fixated with nuclear power and is determined to oversee a new generation of nuclear reactors rather than investing in clean and sustainable options that already exist."

Shadow Trade and Industry secretary Alan Duncan said: "Tony Blair's announcement is no surprise. It just proves that the Energy Review has been a smokescreen all along.

"He has humiliated his new Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and he has irresponsibly broken this down to a pro- versus anti-nuclear argument. He should be looking at all generating methods with equal vengeance."

However, CBI director-general Sir Digby Jones said: "The Prime Minister is absolutely right to put nuclear power firmly on the agenda for the future."