A DECISION on the next generation of nuclear power stations - including one in the North-East - could be made by early summer next year.

Tony Blair's chief scientific advisor has urged the Prime Minister to approve the building of nuclear power stations as the best way of meeting carbon dioxide emission targets.

Yesterday, Number 10 said the Government was looking at all the options to meet Britain's energy needs.

But significantly, Downing Street pointed to emerging evidence that renewable energy - such as wind and wave power - was "not 100 per cent effective".

Sir David King said the decline in nuclear power was contributing to the failure to meet the Government's targets on reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

According to a Londo newspaper, the Government is likely to approve a new generation of nuclear power stations on such sites as British Energy-run Hartlepool Nuclear Power Station.

They would be built by private groups and run by current operators, including British Energy.

When Hartlepool is decommissioned in 2014, it could be replaced by a new generation power station under the proposals.

Last night, a British Energy spokesman said: "We are awaiting the Government's decision on this issue."

But former Environment Minister Michael Meacher said the answer was renewable energy, rather than nuclear power.

Reports yesterday suggested the Prime Minister would give the go-ahead for the power stations.

He is said to be convinced that a new generation of reactors is the only way to secure energy supplies and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

But such a move would put him on a collision course with environmental groups and many of his backbenchers.

Business leaders are also urging the Government to reach a decision on nuclear energy in the next year, amid fresh concerns about power supplies. CBI director-general Sir Digby Jones said the British public deserved certainty.

After first promising a decision on new stations by the end of this Parliament, then by the end of next year, Mr Blair will apparently set up a Government review within the next two weeks, asking it to reach conclusions by the early summer.

Mr Meacher said the review must be ''balanced, independent, impartial and it has got to carry credibility''.

He said nuclear power was hugely expensive and he pointed to ''unresolved'' problems over waste.

''We need nuclear like a hole in the head,'' he said.