Germany’s chastising of Belgium over nuclear safety is part of a broader strategy to wrest control of atomic power from national governments and create a European agency with the muscle to close reactors. The request from Germany to temporarily shut two Belgian reactors follows spats with France and Switzerland in the last seven months over safety at atomic plants in those two countries near their shared borders. Germany itself is phasing out the use of nuclear power. The dust ups are a sign that Germany is upping pressure on its partners to back creation of a European nuclear safety agency with executive powers — there is none at present — where it could leverage its influence as the leading proponent of an atomic energy phase-out. Nuclear safety procedures in the European Union currently are the preserve of national agencies, which routinely report and share information over incidents at plants.
Bloomberg 21st April 2016 read more »