Nuclear Debate

Social Democrat Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel called on Merkel and Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg to give up their nuclear course in order to preserve "the security of German citizens."

In an interview with Berlin's Tagesspiegel daily, Gabriel said "the recent incidents in Krümmel prove we cannot justify the protracted use of older power plants."

Indeed the Kruemmel reactor in the northern state of Schleswig Holstein only roared back to life at the end of June after a fire in 2007 forced its closure for two full years. And in the few days since its reopening, the plant has twice been removed from the national grid.

Action not investigation

The plant's Swedish operators, Vattenfall, say the latest shutdown, which put out the majority of traffic lights across Hamburg and left thousands of homes in the region with a reduced electricity supply, was the result of a short-circuit. They say they are investigating the cause, and have not indicated when normal operations might resume.

But Social Democrat Gabriel wants more than an investigation. Speaking to ARD television on Monday morning, he said the oldest eight of Germany's seventeen nuclear reactors should be removed from the national grid immediately.

He also called for a tightening of nuclear phase-out laws in order to make it possible for newer, more reliable plants to fulfil the remit of the older ones he wishes to see closed.

Electorate to decide

Both the Social Democrats and the Greens have seized on the latest Kruemmel shutdown as an election campaign opportunity.

"On September 27th, Germany will decide if this, and seven other reactors, should remain in operation as the CDU and Chancellor Merkel suggest," Gabriel, whose SPD is currently in a coalition with the CDU, told the ARD.

Renate Kuenast, leading Green Party candidate, described Kruemmel's two malfunctions in as many weeks as dilettantism on the part of Vattenfall. She said voters held the key to the future of Germany's power generation.

"Whoever wants to see scrap reactors like Kruemmel closed down has to fight with us against a black-yellow coalition," she told the Tagesspiegel, referring to the possibility of a coalition between the "black" Christian Democrats and the "yellow" Free Democrats.

Merkel's Christian Democrats are in favor of extending the operational lives of Germany's nuclear plants, which, under a law passed by the former SPD/Green coalition, are currently due to be phased out by the year 2021.

Bridging a gap to a cleaner energy future

Gabriel said that to close the oldest reactors now rather would not, as some suggest, pose a supply problem, as Germany currently produces more than it uses.

But the Christian Democratic Bavarian Environment Minister, Markus Söder, said it was illusionary to think that Bavaria -- which is 60-70 percent reliant on nuclear energy -- could switch to alternative energy sources from one day to the next.

He told Bavarian public radio that Germany needed nuclear fuel "until we can replace it entirely with regenerative energy."

Kruemmel has often been cited in connection with a relatively high incidence of leukemia in the region, but there has never been any proof that the reactor is to blame.

tkw/AP/Reuters/dpa
Editor: Michael Lawton