At least three small-scale nuclear reactors should be built in Norfolk to ensure there is enough energy in the future, the deputy leader of Norfolk County Council has said.
Conservative Graham Plant said the county should look at the opportunities which new, smaller scale reactors, could present.
He said: "If we had three of those in Norfolk that's our energy problem solved.
"If we had five, that also means that we would have growth, so we can have it for our industries as well."
The government wants to build 16 Small Modular Reactors over the next 25 years, with Rolls-Royce having won the government's backing to build factories to produce them.
And Mr Plant, who holds the growing the economy portfolio at County Hall, is keen some are built in Norfolk.
Mr Plant made his call at a county council meeting on Tuesday (October 11) during a debate about what sort of energy the authority should be promoting.
He said: "One thing on the table at the moment is the modular nuclear factor.
"They put them in submarines, they put them in various other elements.
"They are about the size of a container at the moment and they will be effective for 250,000 houses - one of those containers - to light for a year."
According to reports, the reactors could actually power up to one million homes.
Mr Plant was responding after the Greens tried to amend a motion tabled by the Conservatives to praise the government for its efforts to help people amid rising energy costs.
The Greens wanted the motion to commit the council to promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency measures - but their amendment was lost.
Mr Plant said: "It's not all about wind, it isn't all about waves or solar or gas. There's other elements out there as well and we should be looking at all elements of energy and how we are going to look to the future.
"We've got electric cars coming on apace and how are we going to fuel those if we are still relying on wind and solar and everything else? That's not going to work.
"We need nuclear, as well as we need everything else."
Mr Plant said being able to do that on a smaller scale, with the containers, rather than nuclear power stations, made good sense.
Prime minister and South West Norfolk MP Liz Truss previously backed "homegrown nuclear expertise" at August's Conservative party leadership hustings in Norwich.
But Mr Plant's suggestion was criticised by opposition councillors.
Steffan Aquarone, Liberal Democrat county councillor, said: "While the rest of the world turns to renewables to meet our energy needs and tackle the climate crisis, Norfolk’s Conservatives seem to have reached for the 1970s playbook.
"Aside from the fact they’re too slow, too expensive, and too dangerous, who in Norfolk is going to want these new nuclear power stations on their doorstep?"
Green county councillor Jamie Osborn said: "Renewable energy is far and away the cheapest form of energy and is the quickest to deploy.
"New nuclear facilities are extremely expensive and cannot be built quickly enough to help reduce energy prices now."
And Steve Morphew, leader of the Labour group, said it was "staggering" Mr Plant was proposing such an approach when Norfolk "sits at the heart of renewable energy" technology.
He said: "He is grasping for shiny distraction rather than focussing on the urgent struggles he and his Conservative colleagues have foisted upon us "
The discussion came after Conservative councillor Lana Hempsall tabled a motion about efforts by the government and the county council to support people during the cost of living crisis - including the recently announced £7.9m package of help.
The motion included that the council thank the government for "the significant work it has done to support the residents of Norfolk and across the country" through the energy price guarantee and £400 energy bill discount.
Mrs Hempsall said the energy crisis had been caused by Putin's war in Ukraine and "larger macro-economic factors".
But opposition councillors criticised the motion, with councillor Emma Corlett branding it "propaganda".
A Labour attempt to amend it so it stated that the crisis was "driven by twelve years of austerity, bad economic management" was defeated.
The original motion was not voted on, because the time for the meeting ran out, with the Conservatives having already voted not to extend its length.
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