EDF Energy will announce today that it has received sufficient reassurances from the energy and climate change secretary, Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne, to continue planning for a new generation of nuclear plants in Britain.

There were fears that the Lib Dems' manifesto commitment to halt the construction of any more nuclear reactors, and recent sceptical signals from Huhne, could derail its £20bn building programme.

But Vincent de Rivaz, the chief executive of EDF in Britain, will tell a conference he is convinced that both sides are committed to the same goal: new reactors without subsidies and at a viable cost.

"What has emerged very quickly from the coalition government is clarity over its commitment to deliver a low carbon future, together with a commitment that new nuclear will play a part in the new administration's plans," de Rivaz will say. "Chris Huhne … has already provided important reassurances that he will take a pragmatic approach to new nuclear power as long as it can be built without subsidy.

"The commitments from the coalition government envisage a proper role for nuclear and have reassured us at EDF, as we contemplate the very serious investment we are proposing to make in nuclear power in the UK," he will add in a speech to the Global Energy Capital Market Conference in London.

EDF says it has been particularly pleased by comments about the introduction of a floor to the carbon price plus a commitment to speed up the planning regime for new energy infrastructure through a clear national policy statement. The company, an arm of the huge, largely state-owned, French utility EDF, insists that it is happy to build new reactors without otherwise relying on any handouts from the Treasury, even for waste or decommissioning.

EDF wants to build four new reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk that would generate enough power to light 40% of Britain's homes or the equivalent of 13% of all UK electricity, but the final decision on whether to proceed is not due to be taken until 2011.

"We've made it clear to the prime minister and the secretary of state for energy and climate change that EDF Energy will spearhead the nuclear renaissance in the UK without the need for public subsidy. That is important to the government. It is important for us," de Rivaz will say. "We operate in a market where the costs for waste and decommissioning are met by nuclear operators through an independently assessed, ring-fenced fund, a requirement further underpinned in this year's Energy Act … Together with other operators we will continue to make regular payments into those funds, to protect ordinary creditors against any associated prospective costs."

De Rivaz says that latest public opinion polls show growing support for nuclear power even from Lib Dem supporters, who have traditionally been among the most negative towards it. And he will quote from a new report published by Parsons Brinckerhoff Power that suggests power can be generated much more cheaply by nuclear than by competing technologies.

"Their data shows that with typical generation costs in the range of £55-£86 per megawatt hour [MWh], new nuclear is well placed in helping keep low carbon energy affordable in the long term," he will say. "That compares particularly favourably to other low carbon technologies. Offshore wind represents a generating cost of up to £204 per MWh and carbon capture and storage technology up to £154 per MWh."