Nuclear power and environmental protection

In 1998, at the Buenos Aires UN conference on protection of the global climate, the Fderal German Minister for the Environment, Juergen Trittin, said he believes that Germany will be able to fulfill its greenhouse gas reduction commitments under the UN Framework Convention only with the help of a speedy nuclear power phaseout in Germany. Atomic energy currently accounts for 33 percent of the total electricity generation in Germany, which equals 160 million tonnes of CO2 emissions avoided, or well 50 percent of the reduction commitments of Germany. Only the minister will be able to explain how his plan might work. (orig./CB)