Nuclear power in Europe

BERLIN: Germany's research minister said in comments published Sunday that the nation should stop phasing out its nuclear power stations and even consider one day building new ones — fueling a dispute in the governing coalition that could be an issue in next year's election.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's left-right "grand coalition" government has stuck with its center-left predecessor's decision to phase out Germany's 17 nuclear power plants by 2021 — but the plan has caused repeated political friction.

Germany will be the last of the world’s eight leading industrial nations to oppose the use of nuclear power as a clean and durable alternative to coal and gas when G8 leaders meet in Hokkaido, Japan, next Thursday.

With Italy having joined the pro-nuclear camp since the election of Silvio Berlusconi, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, will now face seven opponents in her effort to water-down a final communiqué that is set to name nuclear power as a prime weapon in the fight against climate change.

Prosecutors in the southern German city of Stuttgart are investigating allegations that a company sold low-quality concrete for major building projects including the Neckarwestheim Nuclear Power Station, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Friday.

MADRID, Mar 25 (IPS) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown are about to agree on a new generation of nuclear power plants in London this week, and plan to export the technology to the rest of the world, according to unconfirmed reports.

Downing Street has refrained from commenting on news of the deal, which was reported last week by The Guardian, a British newspaper. The move would fly in the face of the opinions of Germany and Spain, which wish to gradually phase out all nuclear plants for safety reasons, and generate electricity from renewable sources instead.