BERLIN: Germany's research minister said in comments published Sunday that the nation should stop phasing out its nuclear power stations and even consider one day building new ones — fueling a dispute in the governing coalition that could be an issue in next year's election.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's left-right "grand coalition" government has stuck with its center-left predecessor's decision to phase out Germany's 17 nuclear power plants by 2021 — but the plan has caused repeated political friction.
"We need an exit from the decision to exit" nuclear power, Research Minister Annette Schavan — a member of Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats — was quoted as telling the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
She added that Germans "urgently need" to extend nuclear power plants' lives — in part "as a contribution to global climate protection and sustainable energy supplies."
"Building new nuclear power stations is not an issue in Germany today, but who can say whether that will still be the case in 10 years?" Schavan said, according to the report.
Merkel's center-left coalition partners, the Social Democrats, have fiercely defended the shutdown plan agreed by the previous government, which they led in a coalition with the Greens.
Merkel's party opposes abandoning nuclear energy but agreed to keep the plan when the coalition was formed in 2005. Both partners are keen to end their alliance in an election expected next year, and appear to see nuclear power as a useful issue.
Social Democratic parliamentary leader Peter Struck was quoted as saying that extending nuclear plants' life would be "irresponsible so long as the question of disposing of highly radioactive waste is not resolved."
If Merkel "plans to make nuclear power an election issue, I say: go on," he told Sunday's edition of Tagesspiegel daily. "People are aware of their responsibility to their children and grandchildren."
Still, with oil prices soaring, a poll published last week suggested that opinion might be shifting.
The Infratest Dimap poll of 1,000 people, conducted Monday and Tuesday, found that 51 percent believe Germany is right to stick to the phaseout — down from 58 percent in December. The poll gave a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 points.