Industry slams "dogmatic" German nuclear shutdown
Date: 19-Jun-00
Country: BELGIUM
"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.
