munich

The planned opening in 2001 of a controversial 20-MW research reactor being built by the Technical University of Munich at Garching could depend on the outcome of discussions being held this week by Germany's new coalition government on its nuclear policy.

In particular, the discussions will address a proposal from Green environment minister Jürgen Trittin to bar the licensing of new nuclear reactors — including research reactors used as a source of neutrons for medical and material sciences — of more than 1 MW thermal power.

The reactor concerned, FRM II, has been strongly opposed by environmental groups because it has been designed to burn bomb-grade, highly enriched uranium (HEU), in defiance of a 1978 international anti-nuclear proliferation agreement that all reactors should convert, if technically possible, to low enriched uranium.

An amendment to this agreement requires the United States to take back HEU waste from reactors agreeing to convert (see Nature 370, 90; 1994 ). The Technical University overcame opposition to win building licences, and the DM770 million (US$456 million) building operation is well under way. But the reactor requires an operation licence, for which the university must apply next year.

Trittin's proposal, leaked to the press last week, also includes plans to bar the transport or reprocessing of nuclear waste in Germany. He argues that waste should be stored above ground at interim storage sites close to the reactors themselves. But this proposal has concerned research reactor operators.

The Hahn Meitner Institute in Berlin, for example, whose reactor is converting to LEU, was recently forced to send a consignment of spent fuel rods to the UK reprocessing facility in Dounreay, Scotland, because the US agreement to take back spent fuel was in temporary abeyance and its own limited storage facilities were dangerously overloaded (see Nature 377, 470; 1995 ).

If the shipped fuel has to be returned, it could cause a major dilemma. A spokesman for the institute says plans to build a new storage facility would take years to gain approval. Moreover, he says, the implications are unclear for spent fuel recently shipped to the United States, as US officials have not decided whether it should be stored or reprocessed.

A spokeswoman for the German research ministry says this week's talks are intended to clarify such issues. Meanwhile, the Technical University has mounted a vigorous press campaign opposing any decision to prevent its reactor from opening.