Energy and Now, the Political Fallout

(2 of 4)

Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev tried to make a similar link May 14 in a speech on Chernobyl. He called the destructive power of nuclear weapons far greater than the impact of the atomic plant accident and urged the U.S. to agree to a ban on nuclear-bomb testing. Gorbachev's message seems to be influencing European public opinion. Said one NATO official: "Gorbachev has scored another public relations coup."

The political fallout from Chernobyl has descended most heavily upon West Germany. "No other country has gone quite as crazy as we have," says one government expert. The nuclear controversy is dramatically shifting West Germany's political agenda and deepening the problems of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who will face voters next January in a general election.

Kohl's Christian Democrat-led coalition continues to favor more nuclear plants. The rival Social Democrats, who in the elections will be headed by Johannes Rau, the minister-president of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, want to phase out existing facilities "as soon as is feasible." The ecology- minded Greens have been gaining in strength since Chernobyl, and their demand that the nation's 20 commercial atomic plants be immediately closed seems attuned to the mood of the country; a recent survey found that 69% of those questioned oppose further nuclear expansion.

In recent weeks clashes between antinuclear protesters and West German police have become common. More than 400 people were injured in mid-May at the site of a nuclear-waste reprocessing plant being built near the Bavarian town of Wackersdorf. Police used water cannons and dropped tear-gas grenades from helicopters to subdue protesters armed with slingshots, crowbars and Molotov cocktails.

Chancellor Kohl, who has been the subject of a three-month corruption investigation that was dropped last week for lack of evidence, looks < politically weaker now than at any other time since he assumed power in 1982. Polls taken since Chernobyl show the Social Democrats consistently leading his Christian Democrats. The opposition, moreover, has been able to dictate the campaign theme for upcoming elections. Its battle cry is Ausstieg! (phased "withdrawal" from nuclear energy).

Nuclear power has also come under increased attack in Italy since the Chernobyl accident. Groups ranging from the Communist Youth Federation to the World Wildlife Fund International are seeking the 500,000 signatures needed for a national referendum on atomic energy. A new opinion poll found that 71% of those surveyed would bar new nuclear units, while about half favored closing Italy's three existing facilities. The government of Socialist Prime Minister Bettino Craxi opposes the referendum. Says Party Spokesman Claudio Martelli: "Italy is surrounded by countries, like France, with dozens of nuclear plants in operation, many of them very close to our borders. What practical alternatives do we have for maintaining a high level of competition?"