Germany's Nuclear Power Extension Splits Merkel's Government - Bloomberg.com - 0 views
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Energy Net on 16 Feb 10"German plans to extend the running time of nuclear-power plants split Chancellor Angela Merkel's government after her environment minister suggested a 40-year limit on their operating life. "What the environment minister said isn't the view of the government," Guido Westerwelle, vice chancellor and head of Merkel's Free Democratic Party coalition partner, said on ZDF television. Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen's comments in a Feb. 6 newspaper interview come as Merkel seeks to negotiate the extension with utilities as part of a plan for Germany's future energy mix she wants to present by October. Merkel won Sept. 27 elections pledging to reverse a 2002 law mandating the closure of Germany's 17 nuclear plants by about 2021. She holds to the coalition agreement to extend nuclear plants as a "bridge" to renewable power, her spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said today. "