Germany to challenge G7 Ukraine reactor plan Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source - Mark Graffis GERMANY: June 16, 1999 BONN - The German government, facing a revolt by its anti-nuclear Green coalition partners, wants to slam the brakes on the West's plans to help Ukraine shut down Chernobyl by blocking credits for new atomic reactors. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder would try to stall a decision on the $1.2 billion credit, which had been expected when he hosts this weekend's summit of the Group of Seven rich industrial nations in Cologne, government sources said on Tuesday. The German parliament's environment committee voted on Tuesday to back a motion put by members of Schroeder's Social Democrats and the Greens - who have ruled in coalition since last September - that Germany should block the nuclear credits and offer Ukraine funds only for non-atomic power stations. A senior German government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the cabinet would defer a decision on whether to back credits for new reactors until after this weekend's summit. "It's a very complex issue," he said. "It's a situation we inherited from the previous government," he added, referring to the 1995 G7 deal with Ukraine aimed at persuading Kiev to shut down Chernobyl. "It's not a decision we'd have taken ourselves." Environment Minister Juergen Trittin of the Greens told the environment committee the two new reactors planned at Rivne and Khmelnitsky to replace capacity lost when the remaining reactor at the disaster-hit Chernobyl plant was eventually shut down might not be safe. He said German officials were discussing with Kiev whether gas-fired generators would be a better option. "The core of the memorandum of understanding speaks only of replacement capacity for Chernobyl," Trittin told NTV television, referring to the 1995 accord. "Nowhere is there a binding obligation that this should be nuclear. The core of the obligation is to help Ukraine ensure a more secure supply of electricity. This government is very insistent on that core." A number of Social Democrats have said they oppose funding new reactors abroad when the new German government is trying to make good on Greens election pledges to phase out atomic power in Germany over the coming generation. The previous conservative German government under Chancellor Helmut Kohl had backed a 1995 scheme under which Ukraine was expecting to have the credit confirmed at the Cologne summit. Schroeder's cabinet put off a decision last week on approving Germany's share of the cost and would now postpone the decision again at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Schroeder and the two most senior Greens in his cabinet, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Trittin, would seek an alternative solution to Ukraine's energy problems during a long-planned visit to Kiev on July 6 and 7, sources said. One of Chernobyl's four reactors blew up in 1986, spreading radioactive fallout across Europe and leaving Ukraine short of generating capacity - a problem that became acute when it broke with gas-and oil-rich Russia as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Ukrainian leaders say that without foreign credits they will have no option but to keep Chernobyl open. Germany, a near neighbour, was badly hit by the Chernobyl fallout and the accident hardened attitudes against nuclear power and gave the Greens a major boost in the polls. Germany holds the annually rotating presidency of the G7 and aimed to remove a passage from the annual economic summit's planned final communique which had been expected to confirm the credits to Kiev, the sources said. Instead, Schroeder and the two most senior Greens in his cabinet, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Environment Minister Juergen Trittin, would seek an alternative solution to Ukraine's energy problems during a long-planned visit to Kiev on July 6 and 7, they added. Trittin, who has led government attempts to make good on Greens election pledges to phase out nuclear power in Germany within a generation, has said that Ukraine should build non-nuclear power stations instead of reactors. One of Chernobyl's reactors blew up in 1986, contaminating much of Europe with radioactive fallout and leaving Ukraine short of generating capacity - a problem that became acute when it broke with gas-and oil rich Russia as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Ukrainian leaders say that without foreign credits they will have no option but to keep Chernobyl open. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nyteeu-06.19.99-16:44:27-22755