By IRNA,
Berlin : A two-day international meeting opened in Berlin on Thursday, highlighting the 4th annual German Nuclear Right Day.
Around 200 conference participants, among them nuclear scientists and technicians, politicians, academics and legal experts, were scheduled to discuss various aspects of the right to have peaceful atomic energy.
A major focus was to be on nuclear waste disposal and security- relevant issues of nuclear facilities.
Hosted by the leading German nuclear lobby group, Deutsches Atomforum, the conference aims to promote an expert-level exchange on technical and legal nuclear matters, according to organizers.
The head of Deutsches Atomforum Walter Hohlefelder warned earlier this year that Germany was “isolated” internationally as civilian nuclear energy was witnessing a global renaissance.
Germany’s powerful nuclear lobby which enjoys close ties with co-ruling Christian Democratic party of Chancellor Angela Merkel, is hoping to slow down plans for phasing out atomic power.
The nuclear industry has organized various countrywide conferences in recent months on the benefits of atomic energy, pointing to the fact that all over Europe new nuclear reactors are being built.
It has also argued that Germany nuclear reactors are among the safest in the world and do not pose any dangers.
Industry lobbyists are also advocating nuclear energy as a serious alternative to oil and coal since atomic reactors produce almost no greenhouse gas emissions.
Merkel has repeatedly urged a review of the planned nuclear energy phase-out in an accelerated effort to reach the country’s climate protection goals.
Although most opinion polls still indicate that most Germans remain opposed to nuclear energy, the momentum is slowly shifting in favor of the pro-atomic power camp, especially after Russia halted gas deliveries to Ukraine and Belarus over the past two winters.
Prospects of an oil and gas shortage have sparked again the nuclear debate among Germans.
Merkel has called on her coalition partner – the Social Democrats- to pave the way for a longer use of the nation’s nuclear power plants.
The chancellor has made clear Germany could meet its climate protection goals, provided the country continues to use nuclear energy.
Although phasing out nuclear energy is still on the agenda, Germany’s nuclear reactors are still working at full power, having raised their electricity output in 2006.
German atomic power plants generated 167.4 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2006, compared to around 163 billion kilowatt hours in 2005.