Schroeder to meet firms on German nuke pull-out

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Schroeder to meet firms on German nuke pull-out

BERLIN, June 13 (Reuters) - Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and senior 
representatives of the German nuclear industry will meet on Wednesday 
to discuss a controversial plan to abandon atomic energy, a 
government spokeswoman said on Tuesday. 

The government discussed the terms of the meeting over the weekend, 
the spokeswoman said. The talks are aimed at finding a compromise 
between the government and industry about closing Germany's 19 
nuclear plants. 

``The result of this meeting was such that the meeting can take 
place,'' the spokeswoman said, but declined to give any more details. 
A spokesman for the Economics Ministry told Reuters the government 
assumed the meeting would be a success. 

Environment Minister Juergen Trittin, a member of the Greens 
ecologist party which is junior coalition partner to Schroeder's 
Social Democrats, and Economics Minister Werner Mueller will also 
take part in the talks. 

A key issue is likely to be the length of time it takes to abandon 
nuclear power. 

The government wants a 30-year phase-out, while industry demands that 
the country's nuclear plants only be decommissioned after at least 35 
years of full-volume operation. 

Abandoning nuclear power has caused a number of spats between the 
Social Democrats and the Greens. 

There have been signs for some time that talks between the government 
and the leaders of the four major plant operators negotiating the 
pull-out -- RWE AG, Veba AG, Viag AG and EnBW -- were close to a 
deal. 

The four utilities together produce around one third of Germany's 
power needs. 

``We are cautiously optimistic that the negotiating partners will 
manage to reach a good result in the foreseeable future,'' a 
spokesman for RWE told Reuters. 

Schroeder has said he expects a deal before the summer recess in July 
but has warned that if the two sides do not reach consensus by then, 
the government will introduce legislation to shut down the plants. 

The energy industry has threatened huge legal claims for any 
financial damages caused by being forced to abandon nuclear power, 
prompting the government to seek to manage the move in consensus with 
the firms involved. 

Negotiations were also hampered by further rows over a ban on the 
transport of nuclear waste. 

The government said in January a two-year ban on transporting nuclear 
waste, introduced by the last government after it emerged that 
nuclear fuel containers had been leaking radiation for years, would 
be lifted in August this year. 

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