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Conservatives rebel over German government's nuclear rethink | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 13.02.2010
Germany's environment minister said that no efforts should be wasted to replace nuclear technology as fast as possible, but German states with atomic power facilities are pushing for a 20-year delay.  

The conservative regional environment ministers from the states of Bavaria, Baden Wuerttemberg and Hesse said in a joint press conference on Friday, February 12, that Germany will need nuclear power for considerably longer before renewable energies are ready to viably replace the technology.

"We don't think that [Environment Minister] Norbert Roettgen's sums add up," said regional Environment Minister Tanya Goenner.

In an interview with the daily paper Sueddeutsche Zeitung earlier this week, Roettgen advocated extending the already limited running times of German nuclear power plants by a further eight years.

This would mean German atomic energy plants should shut down 40 years after they started operating, a deadline ranging between 2015 and 2029 for various plants across the country. Roettgen, however, also said that safety issues could lead to changes in the dates of disassembly.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sat Feb 13th, 2010 at 11:37:50 AM EST
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The latest is an op-ed by economy minister Rainer Brüderle of the neoliberal FDP in the Sunday issue of tabloid Bild (the German Sun). He argues for nuclear to keep costs down, again bemoaning the cost of renewables. But, he kept to the coalition agreement formulation of "bridge technology" -- this time adding "clean coal"...

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Sun Feb 14th, 2010 at 01:21:16 PM EST
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