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Germans press for removal of US nuclear weapons in Europe | World news | The Guardian
Pressure is growing within Nato for the removal of the remaining US nuclear weapons on European soil, and for a new doctrine for the alliance that would depend less on nuclear deterrence.
The initiative is being driven by the new German government coalition, which has called for the removal of American nuclear weapons on its territory as part of a Nato strategic rethink.
The German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, the driving force behind the new policy, raised the issue during talks in Washington today with the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.
Earlier this week, Westerwelle assured the Nato secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, that Germany would consult its allies on the removal of the estimated 20 nuclear weapons left on its soil.
Germany to U.S.: Take Away Your Nukes! - TIME
Germany's new coalition government put the finishing touches to its policy program this weekend, promising moderate tax cuts to help support the economy, a reduction in the length of compulsory military service, and the continued operation of the nation's aging nuclear power plants. No big surprises there. But one detail could have interesting international repercussions: the man designated to be foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, is pushing for the U.S. to remove its remaining nuclear weapons from German soil.
Radioactive Waste: German Company Sent Nuclear Material for Open-Air Storage in Siberia - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International
The Western media reported last week on how the German company Urenco shipped nuclear material to Siberia, where the highly toxic waste was stored in containers in the open air. The company has stopped deliveries and will store the material with higher standards in Germany in the future.
The radiation warning sign was so small that few passers-by took note in the commuter rail station in Kapitolovo, Russia. Fifty-six steel canisters were sitting there on a summer day three years ago. Just a stone's throw away, people were waiting for trains to take them to downtown St. Petersburg.
Anti-nuclear group criticizes German waste shipments to Russia | Environment & Development | Deutsche Welle | 15.10.2009
In the wake of a French investigation into reports that nuclear waste is sent from French plants to Siberia, news has emerged that Germany has a long tradition of shipping toxic waste to Russia.
The German anti-nuclear group "Ausgestrahlt" said that since 1996, Germany's only uranium enrichment plant in Gronau has shipped about 22,000 tons of uranium hexafluoride, which is a compound used in the uranium enrichment process, to Russia.
"Ausgestrahlt" reported on Wednesday that only 10 percent of that was returned to Germany as enriched uranium. The anti-nuclear activists said the remaining 90 percent was stored in Siberia, outdoors and in rusting containers. Uranium hexafluoride is highly toxic and corrosive to most metals.
Bulgaria: Bulgaria PM to Ask Merkel about RWE's Pullout from Belene NPP - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency
Bulgaria's PM, Boyko Borisov, is going to talk to his German counterpart, Angela Merkel, about the potential decision of RWE to withdraw from the Belene Nuclear Plant project.
This was announced by Borisov himself on Wednesday. The German media have recently published unconfirmed information about RWE’s withdrawal from the project for the second Bulgarian nuclear power plant, and Borisov’s statement might be construed as a confirmation of those reports, Bulgarian analysts have remarked.
In December 2008, the German energy giant RWE and the Bulgarian National Electric Company NEK sealed their partnership in which RWE was chosen to acquire 49% of the Belene NPP in exchange for a capital payment of EUR 1,275 B, a premium of EUR 550 M for NEK, and a loan of EUR 300 M for the purchase of equipment and other expenditures.
According to the German media, RWE is pulling out of the Belene project because of the rising costs of the NPP construction, and because of the intentions of Merkel’s new government to revive the nuclear energy in Germany.
Berlin warns nuclear industry - UPI.com
The German nuclear industry is expecting a revival for their power source, but not so fast, warns the new German government.
The bosses of Germany's big utilities were rubbing their hands with glee when it surfaced that Chancellor Angela Merkel's Conservatives would be re-elected in a team with the pro-business Free Democratic Party -- both groups had campaigned in favor of nuclear power, and they were set to scrap the planned phase-out of the controversial energy source.
After the election, Juergen Grossmann, the head of utility RWE, urged the new government to swiftly extend the running times of the German reactors.
But officials from both parties have warned utilities that nuclear won't be boosted at all costs.
"If the utilities refuse our terms and conditions then the nuclear phase out will remain in place," Andreas Pinkwart, a senior FDP official, told German news magazine Der Spiegel.
German FDP says may not extend nuclear plants' lives | Industries | Industrials, Materials & Utilities | Reuters
A senior figure in Germany's Free Democrats has threatened to drop plans to extend the lives of national nuclear plants if power companies take issue with conditions the next government attaches to such extensions.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives are due to start coalition talks with the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) on Monday and energy policy will be a key issue for negotiation.
The two groups have said they will look to extend the lives of Germany's 17 nuclear plants, which an existing plan envisages phasing out by 2021 at the latest.
Germany votes for nuclear autumn, not spring: Paul Taylor | Markets | Markets News | Reuters
To judge from the bounce in German energy companies' share prices, you might think Sunday's centre-right election victory means it's springtime for nuclear power in Germany.
The reality is more likely to be a longer atomic autumn before ageing reactors are laid to rest. Both the conservatives and the liberal Free Democrats want to prolong the lifetime of Germany's 17 existing nuclear plants, but not build new ones.
That will still be lucrative for utilities such as RWE (RWEG.DE), E.ON (EONGn.DE>, Vattenfall [VATN.UL] and EnBW (EBKG.DE), which face an uncertain future as Europe switches to a greener energy mix and EU regulators force them to divest their grids and pipelines.
Merkel wins as Germans choose centre-right | U.S. | Reuters
German voters gave Chancellor Angela Merkel a second term on Sunday and a mandate to partner with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) in a government that will rein in the role of the state in Europe's largest economy.
Merkel, 55, has ruled for the past four years in a "grand coalition" with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), an awkward partnership of traditional rivals.
FACTBOX-Energy policy in the next German government | Reuters
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is seeking re-election in a federal vote on Sunday and polls give her conservatives a solid lead over their coalition partners and rivals, the Social Democrats (SPD).
Merkel hopes to form a coalition with the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP), and voter surveys give her just enough support for such a centre-right alliance.
However, other ruling partnerships are possible, including a second "grand coalition", grouping Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) and the SPD.
Below are the most various coalition scenarios and how they would likely affect German energy policy:
German Nuclear Plants’ Future at Stake in Merkel Election Fight - Bloomberg.com
Angela Seidler, a 41-year-old tour guide at E.ON AG’s Grafenrheinfeld nuclear-power plant in southern Germany, may have to find a new career before she retires.
“There are about six years of work” until the plant reaches a government-mandated production limit, Seidler said. After that, she said, “it’s over for Grafenrheinfeld” -- unless voters grant a reprieve in Sept. 27 elections.
Seidler works at one of Germany’s 17 nuclear plants, which require an extension to operate beyond deadlines imposed in 2002 by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Social Democratic predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder. They won’t get it unless Merkel, who wants to keep them open, wins the majority she needs to ditch her current coalition with the Social Democrats.
Commentary: Childhood cancer near nuclear power stations - 7thSpace Interactive
In 2008, the KiKK study in Germany reported a 1.6-fold increase in all cancers and a 2.2-fold increase in leukemias, among children living within 5 km of all German nuclear power stations. The study has triggered debates as to the cause(s) of these increased cancers.
This article reports on the findings of the KiKK study; discusses past and more recent epidemiological studies of leukemias near nuclear installations around the world, and outlines a possible biological mechanism to explain the increased cancers. This suggests that the observed high rates of infant leukemias may be a teratogenic effect from incorporated radionuclides.
Doses from environmental emissions from nuclear reactors to embryos/fetuses in pregnant women near nuclear power stations may be larger than suspected and hematopoietic tissues may be considerably more radiosensitive in embryos/fetuses than in newborn babies. The commentary concludes with recommendations for further research.
Times & Star | Opinion | Time to admit West Cumbria is unsuitable for nuclear waste storage
LAST week Germany’s nuclear waste storage site, which has so far cost nearly $2 billion, was pronounced ‘dead’ by the Environment Minister, and he was backed by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection.
German newspapers had been reporting that the conservative government of the 1970s, led by Chancellor Kohl, had altered a scientists’ report that came to the conclusion that the location in Lower Saxony was not suitable for long-term storage of nuclear waste, so that Gorleben could indeed be chosen.
Old Evidence Roils New German Nuclear Debate : ScienceInsider
A 20-year-old telegram has heated up Germany's debate over nuclear power in the run-up to parliamentary elections later this month. The telegram seems to substantiate charges that politicians in the government of former Chancellor Helmut Kohl pressured scientists to recommend an old salt mine as a potential site for long-term nuclear waste storage. The debate is part of a larger controversy over whether or not the country should phase out its nuclear power by 2022, as current law stipulates. The country’s two center-right parties, which have a slight lead in the latest polls, have said they want to let the country’s nuclear power plants run up to a decade longer. The country’s three, main, left-leaning parties support the phaseout. As many as 50,000 people attended a march against nuclear power in Berlin last weekend.
The long-running controversy over the site will seem familiar to observers of the debate over the proposed nuclear waste repository in Yucca Mountain, which has been defunded by the Obama Administration. Germany, like the United States, has no long-term disposal site for high-level radioactive waste.
50,000 join anti-nuclear power march in Berlin - The Local
Some 50,000 anti-nuclear protestors demonstrated in Berlin on Saturday against Germany possibly reversing a decision to abandon atomic energy and extending the life of its nuclear power plants.
The marchers, backed by 400 tractors, demanded that Germany stick to its commitment to close all nuclear plants by 2020 and also called for the closure of a radioactive dump at Gorleben in eastern Germany.
The police refused to give an estimate of the crowd but organisers - ranging from the Greens to members of the Protestant church - put the figure at 50,000 people, marching from the Berlin train station to the Brandenburg Gate.
Anti-nuclear trek to Berlin | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 30.08.2009
Where to store Germany's nuclear waste? The issue – decades old and still unresolved – has injected controversy into campaigning ahead of Germany’s federal election on 27 September.
Farm residents at Gorleben in northern Germany have long opposed a proposal that salt caverns under their feet be used as the nation's long-term underground nuclear waste disposal site.
Driving tractors, they have begun a week-long road trek to Berlin to press their anti-nuclear case. Equipped with a rolling kitchen, they aim to spearhead a demonstration in the capital next Saturday. En route, the tractor trekkers plan stopovers at three other sites used variously as nuclear storages and all controversial - the former Konrad iron mine near Salzgitter; Asse, a mine with water leaks near Wolfenbüttel; and Morsleben, an old salt mine near the former East-West-German border. Nuclear industry proponents accuse detractors of exaggerating the risks.
More nuclear waste in disused depot than expected - The Local
An investigation team has found three times more highly radioactive plutonium in the disused nuclear waste depot in Asse than the inventory states, the German Environment Ministry announced Saturday.
The waste depot, near the town of Wolfenbüttel in Lower Saxony, was taken over by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) from the allegedly careless former proprietor Helmholtz Zentrum in January. The BfS is currently carrying out an investigation on the site and has begun medical tests on former workers.
A new investigation has revealed that 28 kilogrammes of radioactive plutonium are stored in the underground shaft depot, three times as much as the environment ministry of Lower Saxony previously understood to be there.
de.indymedia.org | Gorleben chosen in revenge against East
A West German provincial leader placed a nuclear waste dump near the border with communist East Germany out of revenge for the East Germans doing the same on their side of the border. So claims a retired geology professor involved in the 1970s search for a salt deposit to be made a nuclear dump.
Gerd Lüttig told the ddp news agency that’s how Gorleben came to be chosen in 1977 by the Conservative premier of Lower Saxony state, Ernst Albrecht. Out of 100 salt deposits investigated, all of them in northern Germany, Gorleben was in the final shortlist of eight.
Lüttig says Albrecht wanted a location near the border because the East Germans “got us into hot water with their final repository at Morsleben”.
Gorleben and Morsleben are about 95 kilometres apart as the crow flies, by road Morsleben is 120 kms south of Gorleben. Both villages were close to the border that separated the two Germanies at time when the communist regime still killed people trying to escape across what was regarded as the world’s deadliest border.
Continental nuclear power production feels the heat
The German and French nuclear industries face numerous challenges and criticisms.
Seven German nuclear plants failed to generate any electricity in July due to technical breakdowns. They have about half the production capacity of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors, but Germany didn’t suffer any power shortages.
The plants have between them a 9,000 megawatt (MW) capacity, but Germany generates more electricity than it consumes, and has been exporting some of the surplus to France, which is heavily dependent on nuclear power.
Early in July, three plants shut down automatically due to failures in their transformers. The other four have been out of service for months, and are undergoing expensive repairs.
GERMANY: Nuclear Power Fails, And Nobody Notices - IPS ipsnews.net
Seven German nuclear plants have failed to generate any electricity this month due to technical breakdowns. They have about half the production capacity of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors, but Germany did not suffer any power shortages.
The plants have between them a 9,000 megawatt (MW) capacity, but Germany generates more electricity than it consumes, and has been exporting some of the surplus to France, which is heavily dependent on nuclear power.
Early this month, three plants shut down automatically due to failures in their transformers. The other four have been out of service for months, and are undergoing expensive repairs.
The breakdowns come at a time when the planned phasing out of nuclear power is under attack. In 2002, the coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens decided that all nuclear reactors would be phased out by 2021.
At the same time, the government launched a massive investment programme in renewable energy, making Germany the leading country in Europe in use of the sun and wind as energy sources.
According to official figures, Germany generates 15 percent of the electricity it consumes from renewable sources. A law passed in 2008 sets a target of generating at least 30 percent of electricity through renewables by 2020.
Additionally, on Jul. 13, a group of large German companies announced a joint investment of 400 billion euros (560 billion dollars) in setting up solar thermal plants in the Sahara, to generate at least 15 percent of all electricity needed in Europe by the year 2020.
But Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Jul. 1 that she would reverse the phasing out of nuclear power if her Christian Democratic Party wins the general election in September, and can form a coalition with the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party. Merkel presently rules in coalition with the SPD.
"Nuclear power remains an indispensable component of the German energy mix," Merkel told the annual meeting of Atomforum, a group representing the four major German electricity provider
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