Giant RWE wants more time for German nuke
Diet Simon - 29.09.2006 05:00
The giant German energy concern RWE has rekindled the debate over Germany's plans to phase out nuclear power, by applying to extend the license of one of its oldest nuclear power stations. Social Democrats, junior partners to conservatives in the colation government, reject the plan. A senior Social Democrat in parliament, Ulrich Kelber, argues that the only reason RWE want to keep Biblis A operating is that it’s returning more than a million euros a day profit because of inflated power prices in Germany ( http://www.businessportal24.com/de/Energiewirtschaft_Zusagen_Biblis_A_Netz_57295.html in German).
The Biblis A reactor, which has been used since 1975, is scheduled as the next one to close in February 2007. Biblis is situated in central Germany 21 km (13 mi) north of Mannheim and 50 km (31 mi) south of Frankfurt, both densely populated major cities. Biblis A is the nuclear power station with the most breakdowns and other incidents in Germany. Read more at http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2188107,00.html.
RWE is the fourth largest power generator across Europe and one of Germany's biggest companies. It has operations in Europe, America, Asia, Australia and Africa. For a map of German nukes see http://www.insc.anl.gov/pwrmaps/map/germany.php.
In other German anti-nuclear news, about 60 opponents demonstrated Wednesday evening at a waste storage site in Ahaus, near the Dutch border near the city of Münster.
They alleged “massive new storage plans for nuclear waste in Ahaus. The demonstrators said the nuclear industry plans to fille applications for usage extension at Ahaus, where waste is kept in a light-construction hall. They said the licenses would allow 270 “large containers” from the plutonium processing plant at La hague in northern france and an unk known quantity of waste from German nukes to go to Ahaus. After 14 years of operation the Ahaus hall is 10% full. A demonstration is called for 1 October at the nearby uranium enrichment plant at Gronau. More at www.sofa-ms.de and www.bi-ahaus.de. |
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