High hopes for nuclear at G8

07 July 2008

Leaders from the Group of Eight industrialized nations (the G8) are gathering in Hokkaido, Japan for their annual summit, expected to be the most pro-nuclear in years. Since the announcement of pro-nuclear stances by Italy and the UK, the sole country in the group not supporting the widespread use of nuclear power in the context of climate change is Germany. That country's Chancellor, Angela Merkel, will be hard pressed to resist her American, Russian, French, Japanese, British and Canadian counterparts, who will be keen to express pro-nuclear sentiment in official statements from the summit later this week. Merkel herself openly questions Germany's nuclear phase-out and her Christian Democrat party is preparing to do battle on the issue in the run-up to a 2009 general election. In addition, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh is sure to discuss the long-awaited US-India nuclear cooperation deal with President George Bush. Observers have suggested Singh may push through with the deal and risk losing the support of communist allies, and with them, his majority in parliament.