Germany renounces nuclear power - historic agreement

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@aecl.ca>]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_791000/791597.stm
Thursday, 15 June, 2000, 10:10 GMT 11:10 UK 
Germany renounces nuclear power
The German Government has reached an historic agreement with energy
companies for the gradual closing down of the country's 19 nuclear power
stations. 
It means that Germany has become the first leading economic power officially
to announce its intention to phase out the use of nuclear energy. 
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder confirmed the agreement early on Thursday after
four-and-a-half hours of last-ditch negotiations with the chief executives
of Germany's four leading utilities. 
He said nuclear power plants would be shut down after a lifespan of 32 years
- longer than his party's coalition partners, the Greens, wanted, but less
than the industry had demanded. 
That means Germany's last nuclear plant could go off-line in about 20 years.

"I think that's a sensible compromise," Mr Schroeder told a news conference
after the meeting. 
Industry leaders said they regretted the early closures, but accepted "the
primacy of the political system". 
Election pledge 
The deal fulfils an election pledge by the Social Democrat-Green Party
coalition government to establish a plan for phasing out the country's
nuclear energy production.
Atomic power currently accounts for about 30% of all Germany's energy
consumption. 
The conservative opposition Christian Democrats have threatened to block any
deal in the upper house of parliament, where the states are represented. 
They say that abandoning nuclear energy will mean importing electricity from
countries with bad nuclear safety records, or increasing electricity output
- and carbon dioxide emissions - from conventional power plants. 
They also accuse the government of ignoring potential job losses, and costs
to states like Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg that are major shareholders in
public utilities. 
Last chance 
The latest talks had been viewed as the last chance for a voluntary
agreement with the four major energy companies - RWE, VIAG, VEBA and Energie
Baden Wuerttemberg. 
The government had threatened to legislate for plant closures if a voluntary
deal could not be reached.
But the negotiations dragged on for over 18 months, marked by bickering
between the coalition partners over how quickly the plants should be closed
down. 
The plan 
The German chancellor did not say when exactly the last nuclear power
station would be switched off. 
Under the deal, the generating industry will be allowed to produce about
2,500 terawatt hours before the shut-down. 
The indications are that it will be free to close the older, inefficient
reactors first and transfer their right to generate power to new, more
modern plants. 
The red-green government originally wanted to give each nuclear
power-station a 30 year lifespan. The industry favoured 35 years. 
The Christian Democrat opposition has pledged to overturn the policy if it
wins the next general election in 2002. 
Nuclear power	
Germany has 19 nuclear plants at 14 sites 
They produce 170,392 gigawatts of power - a third of Germany's electricity 
A 1997 opinion found that 81% of Germans were in favour of nuclear power 
433 nuclear power stations operate worldwide 
France generates 75% of its electricity from nuclear	

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