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No pact in talks on ending N-energy in Germany

BONN: Gerhard Schroeder and heads of the country's main energy suppliers failed to reach agreement in talks on Friday on the modalities for abandoning nuclear power, the German Chancellor said.

The various viewpoints "are getting closer" on the issues of transporting and storing radioactive wasst, Schroeder said afterwards.

However no compromise had yet been found on the maximum lifespan of the nuclear plants, he added.

The Greens, members of the ruling coalition, are demanding that the power stations be closed down after a life of 30 years and that at least one of the country's 19 nuclear units be shut down by 2002, when the legislature ends.

The industrialists are deeply opposed, saying this would imperil their economic viability, and are demanding a minimum nuclear life of 35 years.

Another meeting was set for the end of the month, said Schroeder, adding that the government was prepared to impose a law on the matter if no agreement could be reached.

Attending the meeting with the chancellor here Friday were the heads of Germany's four main energy groups.

Schroeder's government last week made a gesture by authorising a resumption in the transport of nuclear waste, banned in Germany since May, 1998.

The decision will enable the nuclear power stations of Biblis, Neckarwestheim and Philippsburg to unclog their stocks by moving five loads of waste in special containers.

The chancellor also said that he alone would conduct the negotiations with the industrialists, thus excluding the Green anti-nuclear Environment Minister Junergen Trittin, who had managed to raise the hackles of the industry.

Finance Minister Werner Nueller said last week that the negotiations should be complete within one or two months and a bill on the abandonment of nuclear energy voted before the end of the year.

When it came to power in autumn, 1998, the government coalition gave itself a year to settle the issue on a consensual basis. It is well behind that deadline, with Schroeder driven by fears of having to pay billions in compensation to the industry. AFP