The British government tonight ruled out the prospect of a nuclear power station being built in Northern Ireland.
As Derry councillors listened to a proposal from businessman Robert Andrews to build a plant in the city, a government spokesman moved to destroy any notion that Northern Ireland would lose its status as a nuclear-free region.
The spokesman said: "The Secretary of State [Peter Hain] has already made it clear that nuclear power is not going to happen in Northern Ireland.
"It would be ultimately his decision, even though we have no expectation that Derry Council would want to go down this route in this case.
"Indeed, the Secretary of State recently launched a £60 million renewable energy strategy for the province's future needs and indeed that is the key focus of the government."
Mr Andrews is proposing a plant which could generate about 2,000 megawatt hours. To generate the same amount of power using wind, he claimed, there would need to be 300,000 wind farms throughout Ireland.
The businessman claimed the construction of a nuclear power plant in Derry would meet Northern Ireland's energy needs and provide 500 stable jobs.
The plan was rejected by SDLP members on Derry City Council and by the Green Party in Northern Ireland.
The government's statement will be welcomed by a cross-Border
group of councils which expressed concerns yesterday about proposals to build a new generation of power stations in England, Scotland and Wales.
The All-Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities Forum urged Prime Minister Tony Blair to bin the proposal and also sought a guarantee that no nuclear plant would be built in Northern Ireland.