Can one opt out of the fast breeder business

The author investigates the question of whether the North-Rhine Westphalian Government would have any chance to prevent the commissioning of the SNR on the basis of substantive law inferring on to the Land Government competences to do so within the meaning of the Atomic Energy Act, and the power industry legislation. The first issue investigated refers to the question of whether the licensing authority can in principle deny any operating license for a nuclear installation, implying that no construction licence has been issued. The author's conclusion is that any refusal to grant an operating licence should be justified by reasons such as uncertainties in plant safety engineering, lack of demand in the power industry sector, and lack of appropriate waste disposal facilities. Directives of the Federal Government to the contrary would be unlawful. This statement is in opposition to the dominant opinion, supporting the Federal Government's competence to issue directives as explained above. In the following, the author examines whether the reasons given for denial of the operating licence would justify such denial in the presence of construction licenses issued before, and states that the licensing authority has the possibility of freeing itself from its commitment by cancelling the preliminary license. A directive by the Federal Government, demanding the operating license to be issued by the Land Government, would have to be based on facts showing breach of duty, or otherwise would be contrary to the law. (orig./HSCH)