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Suspicious timing?

Susan HoultonSeptember 17, 2009

A German minister is accused of withholding a potentially inflammatory report on nuclear energy. The debate over nuclear energy has become a politically sensitive issue ahead of the September 27 elections.

https://p.dw.com/p/JizI
Anti-nuclear demonstrators in Berlin
The debate over nuclear energy has reignited in Germany ahead of parliamentary electionsImage: AP

German Education and Research Minister, Annette Schavan, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, has been keeping a controversial study on nuclear energy under wraps, with no plans to release it until after Germany's parliamentary elections, according to the Financial Times Deutschland.

With less than two weeks to go before the election, the issue of nuclear energy is now well in the campaign spotlight.

The minister's spokesperson, Elmar Koenig, played down the importance of the document, saying that it wasn't a "study" per se, but rather a list of "possible scenarios" for future energy policy.

Annette Schaven
The report Schavan is accused of keeping secret was finished in June.Image: dpa

In 2002, the German government under Social Democrat chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had approved a plan to phase out nuclear reactors by 2020, but Merkel's Christian Democrats, concerned about dwindling energy supplies, high oil prices, and global warming, have sought to extend that deadline.

In a recent television debate, Merkel called nuclear energy a "bridge technology".

And the scientists who contributed to the report seem to agree. The paper entitled, "Concept for an Integrated Energy Research Program for Germany", compiled by one hundred scientists, advocates an extension of the use of nuclear reactors in Germany, as well as the application of new technology currently used in the US, Britain, and France.

The report, which was completed in June, also proposes scouting out another location for nuclear waste deposits to replace Gorleben. The controversial radioactive waste disposal facility in Lower Saxony has been a popular meeting spot for anti-nuclear protestors since the 1970's when the oil crisis gave nuclear power a major boost in Germany.

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant catastrophe in 1986, however, heralded a shift in attitudes toward nuclear energy.

And in recent years, a series of technical mishaps at nuclear power plants around the country has further increased anxieties about their safety.

Scientists writing in the report acknowledge the risks involved with nuclear energy, but emphasize the cheap cost and ability to cut CO2 emissions.

vj/dpa/AFP/FT Deutschland

Editor: Susan Houlton

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Aktivisten mit Schweinemasken und Faesser, die radioaktiven Abfall symbolisieren sollen, sind am Samstag, 5. September 2009, in Berlin bei einer Grossdemonstration gegen Atomkraft vor dem Reichstag zu sehen. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer) --- Activists wearing pig masks and barrels symbolizing atomic waste are seen in front of the Reichstag, which houses the German parliament Bundestag, during a demonstration against nuclear power in Berlin, on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer)

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