Germany Stands Firm in Nuclear Spat

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

Thursday January 21 3:08 PM ET 

BONN, Germany (AP) - In a growing spat between European allies, 
Germany stood firm Thursday in its refusal to pay compensation if 
it scraps deals with Britain and France to reprocess its nuclear 
fuel.  

The new German government's drive to phase out nuclear power 
has turned into a wider political wrangle, with French Prime 
Minister Lionel Jospin urging Germany on Thursday to pay for the 
contracts.  

The French and British reprocessing plants involved have 
threatened to sue for damages if Germany fails to honor long-term 
contracts to process the waste into usable fuel.  

But German Environment Minister Juergen Trittin, fresh from talks 
on the issue with British Trade and Industry Secretary Stephen 
Byers, refused to budge.  

``There is no basis for compensation in case of a legal ban'' on 
reprocessing, Trittin declared.

``But of course we stand behind our commitment under 
international law to accept the return of our atomic waste'' from 
Britain and France once reprocessing is ended, he said.  

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his junior coalition partner, the 
Greens, have agreed to pass a law that would bar German power 
plants from sending spent nuclear fuel abroad for reprocessing 
starting next Jan. 1. The move is part of the center-left 
government's plan to phase out nuclear power.  

Britain's Byers said Wednesday that his country will return 650 
tons of spent fuel if Bonn passes the law and scraps its contracts.  

A day later, Jospin urged Germany to negotiate compensation with 
France.

``There is no reason to start an argument, but there is every reason 
for France to defend legitimate interests with respect to 
international and commercial laws,'' he said in Paris.  

France's state-owned processing company, COGEMA, says 
Germany's withdrawal from contracts running until 2010 would cost 
the company more than $5.3 billion.  

French Industry Secretary Christian Pierret said Germany had 
proposed that it promise to pay COGEMA to process the spent 
German fuel that the company already has.  

But Pierret rejected the proposal as ``a little far-fetched.''  

``Compensation should be the logical conclusion of Germany's 
decision'' to stop sending spent nuclear fuel out of the country for 
reprocessing, he said.  

German opposition parties accused Trittin of inept diplomacy with 
two key allies and urged him to change his mind during a 
parliamentary debate in Bonn on Thursday.  

Guenter Rexrodt of the pro-business Free Democrats accused him 
of causing ``immense harm in foreign policy.'' Andreas 
Schockenhoff, a Christian Democrat, said the government was 
sowing ``fear of an unpredictable Germany that breaks its 
contracts.''  

French lawmakers debated their country's energy policy Thursday. 
But with the exception of the Greens, most continued to back 
nuclear energy, which provides 80 percent of France's  
electricity. 

Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -
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