Angela Merkel atom plant plan sparks protest

Greenpeace activists rappelled from the roof of Chancellor Angela Merkel's party headquarters to hang a massive anti-nuclear banner yesterday - one of several protests against her government's plan to extend the lives of Germany's atomic power plants.

Ms Merkel has defended the unpopular decision to roll back a previous government's plan to phase out all nuclear power by 2021. She says nuclear power is needed to keep energy cheap and available until Germany develops more renewable sources by 2050.

Her proposal, which passed parliament yesterday easily with her government's majority, extends the life of Germany's 17 nuclear power plants by an average of 12 years.

Opposition parties and environmental groups - noting the lingering effects of Ukraine's 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster - said her plan increases the risk of a nuclear accident in Germany. They also question whether it will undermine the push toward renewable resources such as wind and solar power.

The company's major utilities favour the plan. To sweeten the deal, the government would receive much-needed funds from Germany's four nuclear power utility companies - E.ON AG, RWE AG, EnBW AG and Germany's subsidiary of Sweden's Vattenfall Europe.

Critics have accused Ms Merkel of a shortsighted money grab. The Greenpeace banner said her party was shaping "policies for the nuclear industry," while protesters outside parliament yesterday waved banners with slogans such as "atomic power kills."