Phasing-Out Nuclear Power Generation in Germany: Policies, Actors, Issues and Non-Issues

The phase-out of nuclear power in Germany is one of the priorities of the Red-Green Government which took office in October 1998. Despite continuous and broad-based public criticism, up until 1998 federal nuclear policies had sided with the pro-nuclear alliance and supported the industry through a number of tax and regulatory privileges. Thus, the phase-out decision marks a fundamental revision of past nuclear policy guidelines. After one-and-a-half years of negotiations between industry and government, in the course of which a number of controversies had to be solved, agreement was reached on the gradual phasing-out of nuclear energy use in Germany on June 14, 2000. The paper presents the actors' policies, analyses issues and non-issues in the negotiations. It shows that different positions within the Federal Government and the lack of support from the anti-nuclear movement for the Government's phase-out strategy strengthened the industry's ability to assert their position. The industry's motivation for taking such an assertive position is illustrated by an insight into the economic conditions of operating nuclear plant in Germany. The paper concludes that the phase-out strategy sketched in the coalition treaty could not fully be translated into actual policy measures. Instead industry succeeded in a number of important issues, the most important of them being the fact that the agreement guarantees the politically undisturbed operation of nuclear power plants for the years to come.