Industry slams ``dogmatic'' German nuclear shutdown

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

Industry slams ``dogmatic'' German nuclear shutdown

BRUSSELS, June 16 (Reuters) - The European nuclear industry accused 
the German government on Friday of pursuing short-term political ends 
in its nuclear power phase-out plan. 

``Political dogma has dictated energy policy,'' the Brussels-based 
European Atomic Forum (Foratom) said in a statement reacting to a 
landmark phase-out plan. 

On Thursday, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder detailed new deadlines for 
closing all Germany's nuclear power stations by just after 2020 -- 
the fastest wholesale nuclear phase-out ever undertaken by a major 
industrialised country. 

Foratom said the move to limit reactors' life span to 32 years would 
have a negative environmental impact because it would deprive Germany 
of a power source that does not produce greenhouse gases. 

Under the Kyoto Protocol, an international accord to cut carbon 
dioxide and other gases that cause global warming, Germany has to 
reduce its emissions to 21 percent of 1990 levels by 2008-2012. 

``The enforced early closure of reactors is bad news 
environmentally,'' said Foratom, the Europe-wide industry association 
representing nuclear companies. 

``It will become virtually impossible for Germany to meet its 
commitments under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.'' 

However Foratom welcomed some terms of the plan, which was agreed 
after negotiations with German utility firms, particularly that it 
would allow the industry to operate free from political intervention 
from now on. 

But Otto Majewski, president of the German Atomic Forum, denied 
Schroeder's claim that the phase-out plan was a consensus with the 
energy industry and said it should not be considered irreversible. 

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Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
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