Re: Germany renounces nuclear power - historic agreement

["ruth_weiner" <ruth_weiner@email.msn.com>]

If 81% of Germans favor nuclear power, why is the government negotiating to
phase it out?  Or is it like the U. S., where Congress passes legislation
whose impact is not felt for a decade or more (I.e. "not on their watch")?

Ruth Weiner
ruth_weiner@msn.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Franta, Jaroslav <frantaj@aecl.ca>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Thursday, June 15, 2000 5:03 AM
Subject: Germany renounces nuclear power - historic agreement


>
>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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