Nuclear power fading out.

Fourteen years after the world's worst nuclear accident, officials announced on June 5 that Ukraine will shut down the Chernobyl power plant by the end of 2000. Ten days after the decision was made to close Chernobyl, German chancellor Gerhard Schroder and the nation's nuclear industry leaders agreed on a plan to close all of the country's nuclear power plants. Both decisions reflect a worldwide drop in the role of nuclear power, which peaked in the late 1980s and has since been in decline.

Despite the catastrophic explosion of one of its nuclear reactors in 1986, Chernobyl has continued to produce energy with its remaining reactors. Subsequent fires and radiation leaks have further crippled the operation, but lack of clean-up funds and serious energy shortages in Ukraine have kept the dilapidated outfit going. As part of a deal to permanently shut down the power plant, the United States has promised $80 million to the struggling nation for radiation containment and the development of alternate energy sources. Since 1998, Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma has pushed for the completion of two unfinished nuclear power stations to augment the energy supply, but European Union officials announced this past spring that they would lend their support to only non-nuclear projects.

Germany's rejection of nuclear energy has been a major goal of the Green party since its inception 20 years ago. Negotiations have been underway since 1998, when the Green party and the Social Democrats came into power. The final agreement sets the lifespan of the country's nuclear power plants at 32 years. Utilities argued for a 35-year allowance, while the government wanted a 30-year phase out. With this compromise the two oldest plants, both over 30 years old, will close in 2002, and the youngest existing plant, which is 11-years-old, will shut down in 2021. Some potential roadblocks remain. The opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union, promises to overturn the deal if re-elected in 2002. Even some members of the Green party are calling for rejection of the plan, claiming it makes too many concessions.

Home to Europe's largest electricity market, Germany generates almost a third of its total electricity from nuclear power, and making up for that power loss will be a difficult task. Coal, which accounts for 50 percent of the current energy base, will still play a major role in the German energy grid, though government subsidies for the coal industry end in 2005. The government is pushing for an increase in renewable energy sources. The parliament passed a strong new renewables law earlier this year, and is implementing a 5-year, $500 million renewables promotion program. Wind power currently provides 1 percent of the country's electricity (as much as 10 percent in northern regions), and has doubled in the past two years.