Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, however, dismissed E.ON, RWE, Vattenfall and EnBW's threat as "sabre-ratting," the weekly said in an article to be published on Monday.

Merkel's government and the power firms are currently in negotiations about her election pledge to extend the life of some plants beyond a planned shut-down in around 2020 brought in by her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder.

In return, the government wants to introduce the fuel rods tax and to spend some of the extra profits that letting reactors run for longer would generate on promoting renewable energies like wind or solar power.

The firms have proposed instead paying 20-30 billion euros (26-38 billion dollars) into a fund, an idea that has reportedly won some backing within the government.

Environmental pressure group Greenpeace meanwhile said that Germany's eight oldest nuclear plants only produced 5.4 percent of Germany's electricity and could be switched off immediately.

"The others could be turned off by 2015," it said in a statement. "This is no threat, this is good news ... The firms have admitted with this announcement that Germany's dilapidated German nuclear power stations are not needed."

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com

Spacequakes Rumble Near Earth GOCE Helping Reveal The Gravity Of Earth XMM-Newton Line Detection Provides New Tool To Probe Extreme Gravity Purdue To Lead NASA Study On Cells In Microgravity Oerlikon Solar Joins Global Zero Emissions Race Rooftop Solar Array At New Jersey Shopping Center APS To Develop Largest Solar Power System On U.S. Government Property Inauguration Of First Concentrix Solar Power Facility In South Africa Canada looks to utilize wind energy LADWP Approves New Wind Project German wind growth down, exports strong Study Shows Stability And Utility Of Floating Wind Turbines Africa's Cell Phone Boom Can't Trump Dire Needs Method proposed for power demand 'spikes' German utilities blasted over power prices South African energy execs' pay questioned Turkmen Caspian sector opens to foreigners US outlines preliminary steps for BP relief well Energy Storage System Deals With Sudden Draws On The Grid BP oil well may be capped, but economic pain keeps spreading Planets In Unusually Intimate Dance Around Dying Star Detector Technology Could Help NASA Find Earth-Like Exoplanets NASA Finds Super-Hot Planet With Unique Comet-Like Tail Recipes For Renegade Planets Venezuela acquiring Russian submarines First Gun Mission Module Installed Aboard LCS 2 Royal Navy's Most Advanced Destroyer Sets Course Into Service Iran navy equipped with four new submarines Spirit In Sweep And Beep Mode Opportunity Performs Science And Rolls To Endeavour Crater Hundreds Of New Views From Telescope Orbiting Mars New Project Manager For Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter