By Bernd Frieboese 
[email protected]

The Agreement between the German utilities and the government concerning the planned phaseout of nuclear power is being strongly critisized by the anti-nuclear movement in Germany as well as most members of the ecologist "Green" party. 

The agreement was the result of many months of negociations between a mostly industry-friendly government (the Minister of Economy is a former utility manager) and the big electricity companies. The anti-nuclear movement was only represented by environment minister Juergen Trittin, who was locked out of part of the sessions. 

Critisizers charge that the "agreement" contains nearly everything the industry wanted -- permission to continue to produce nuclear waste for many more years -- permission to stockpile the waste next to rach reactor, avoiding expensive transports and postponing the problem indefinitely -- and the government guaranteed that it will not impose any new safety rules or taxes on nuclear power. 

Anti-nuclear activists complain that the liability limit for major nuclear accidents (similar to the Price-Anderson law in the USA) will be raised only to DM 5bn (US$2.5bn), still only a fraction of the estimated costs of DM 10trillion. According to the agreement, new regular safety checks will take place only every 10 years in each reactor. The agreement also rules that no nuclear power plants will be built in Germany. Though, this appears to be a landmark declaration, activists declare that nobody wants to build them anyway. 

Even though these are statistics from the USA, they bear looking at re nuclear power anywhere: http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/probability.html (NRC Admits To 45% Chance Of Core Melt Over 20 Year Period). http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/crac.html (CRAC-2 Report From Industry)

Articles Re Germany's Nuclear Phase-out Agreement

Germany seen close to ending nuclear power 

By Mark John 

BERLIN, June 14 

(Reuters) Germany was due to clinch a deal on Wednesday to close down its 19 nuclear power plants, making it the first major industrial nation to commit to withdrawing from nuclear energy. 

Talks between Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's government and the chiefs of the German energy industry were to begin at 8.30 p.m. (1830 GMT). A news conference was due at 10.30 p.m. Closure of Germany's 19 reactors, which cover around a third of the country's electricity needs, was a key manifesto pledge of the Greens, the junior partner in Schroeder's coalition. But the plans under discussion do not answer the Greens' original call for an immediate pull-out -- a point which could yet spell trouble for the plans and for the coalition. 

The 18-month-long negotiations, which at times became acrimonious at lower levels, have instead centred on allowing a total 30-35 years' average working life for the reactors. Sources close to the talks foresee a compromise whereby the country's last reactor would be shut down in the late 2020s. The energy sector -- which includes the country's four top nuclear providers, Veba, Viag, RWE and Energie Badenwuerttemberg -- has pushed for a longer timeframe. 

Government officials said the two hours of talks were scheduled on the basis that there was a good chance of agreement. "We are working on the assumption that we will be successful," said an Economics Ministry spokeswoman. Industry officials have also expressed optimism, albeit more cautiously. 

Wednesday's talks were due to focus on the sticking-point of how long the move away from one of Germany's key forms of power should take. 

A proposed compromise would permit total production by the reactors of 2,600 terawatt-hours of electricity, implying a total working life of 31-33 years for the nuclear plants, the sources close to the talks said. 

NUCLEAR COMMITMENT COULD PROMPT SPLITS 

The issue of nuclear power divides the country politically and geographically. 

The commitment to withdraw from nuclear fuel is fraught with tensions for Schroeder and his junior partners the Greens. 

Some Greens have called for a break-up of the coalition if the exit from nuclear power is not swift enough. 

They have been dismayed by Schroeder's insistence that the move be carried out in consensus with the energy industry to avoid potential compensation claims. 

Opinion polls have suggested that many German supports the move. Over the years the issue has prompted pitched battles between police and protesters trying to stop nuclear waste shipments around the country. 

But opposition conservatives, which rule the southern states where many of the job-providing reactors are located, say they will reverse the move if they get back into power. 

The largest northern states where many of the main waste depots are situated are ruled by pro-government politicians who back the withdrawal. 

Attending the talks with Schroeder will be the Environment Minister Juergen Trittin of the Greens, himself a former anti-nuclear street protester, and the non-partisan Economics Minister Werner Mueller, a former power executive brought into the cabinet by the chancellor to oversee the policy. 

Even if a deal between government and industry is reached, it faces a number of potential hurdles. 

One of the biggest would be a Greens party congress in little over a week which could instruct party leaders to reject the deal as unsatisfactory. 

Bavarian state premier Edmund Stoiber, a leading conservative advocate of nuclear power, has threatened to take the matter to Germany's top constitutional court, arguing that government and industry have no right to make a "private deal" effectively banning a specific power form. 

Further down the line, there are also concerns over what Germany will replace the lost energy with. Environment-friendly "renewable energy" forms are the Greens' preferred option -- but would involve huge investment. 

Merely increasing the share of carbon-based fuel forms would, some argue, put Germany at risk of breaking international commitments to reduce emissions of globe-warming greenhouse gases. Purchasing electricity from elsewhere, on the other hand, would involve the dilemma of buying power > possibly generated from nuclear plants in other countries.