German Cabinet approves nuclear plant shutdown

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@ICX.NET>]

German Cabinet approves nuclear plant shutdown

This story appeared on http://www.individual.com September 6, 2001



BERLIN (AP) via NewsEdge Corporation  - 

The shutdown of Germany's 19 nuclear power plants

came a step closer Wednesday when the Cabinet approved a bill

regulating the phase-out of the technology.



The pact limits nuclear plants, which provide nearly a third of

Germany's electricity, to an average 32 years of operation.



That would see the most modern plants close around 2021 and have

Germany join nations such as Italy and Austria in abandoning

nuclear power. Germany is the largest industrial nation to

willingly forgo the technology. The first plant is due to go

off-line in 2003.



Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder signed an agreement in July with

Germany's leading power companies to shut down the nuclear plants,

one year after they hammered out a preliminary pact.



A government spokeswoman said the Cabinet signed off on the

draft law, which requires approval in the lower house of parliament

where Schroeder's Social Democrats hold a majority along with the

environmentalist Greens.



Some environmentalists complain that the timetable is far too

long, while German conservatives argue that abandoning atomic power

is a mistake. Power company executives hope a future government

would scrap the plan.



Eliminating nuclear power is a pet cause of the Greens, who for

years backed protests focused on halting nuclear waste transports,

which the pact will end by mid-2005.



But whether the German nuclear plan would survive a change in

government remains open. Some conservatives, who hope to oust

Schroeder in parliamentary elections next year, have said they will

reverse the policy.

-- 

.....................................................

Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director

Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee

                       -----                       

A schedule of meetings on DOE issues is posted on our Web site

http://www.local-oversight.org/meetings.html - E-mail loc@icx.net

.....................................................

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