PARIS - THE new Socialist led government in France has ordered the shutdown of the Super Phoenix fastbreeder atomic power station, ending 20 years of experiments with Germany and Italy to develop advanced nuclear energy supplies and treat plutonium waste.
Ms Dominique Voynet, Environment Minister and leader of the Greens, was told personally by Mr Lionel Jospin, the Prime Minister, that she has carte blanche to arrange a shutdown. European Greens have opposed the project since its inception on the grounds that it was potentially more dangerous than Chernobyl.