BERLIN, March 28 (Reuters) - Energy-poor Germany relies on nuclear power for around a third of its electricity but it also has a long history of protest against nuclear plants. The following are key dates in the history of German nuclear power:

1960 - West Germany's first industrial nuclear power plant opens in Kahl. This plant closes in 1985.

1966 - Rival Communist East Germany begins operation of its first nuclear power plant, a Soviet-designed model.

1975 - Fire at the East German plant of Lubmin on the Baltic Coast almost causes the core to melt down.

1978 - Communist East Germany starts storing nuclear waste at a mine in Morsleben. It is closed in 1998.

1980 - The Greens, who became a nationwide force with their anti-nuclear campaign slogan "Atomkraft? Nein, Danke" (Nuclear Power, No Thanks), form a political party in West Germany.

1984 - West Germany begins first nuclear waste transports to intermediate-term storage in village of Gorleben -- then near the East German border -- amid protests.

1986 - The Soviet Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster heightens German fears over nuclear safety. Surveys show a majority of Germans oppose the use of nuclear power.

1989 - Last of West Germany's 19 nuclear power plants begins operation. Germany decides against building its own nuclear waste reprocessing plant, relying instead on plants in La Hague in France and Britain's Sellafield.

1990 - Unified German government finishes closing down last of eight nuclear power plants in the formerly Communist east.

1995 - First nuclear waste transports to Gorleben in Castor containers (Casks for Storage and Transport of Radioactive Materials) from La Hague. Similar shipments follow in each of the next two years, sparking protests.

1997 - Huge demonstrations meet Castor transports amid biggest-to-date postwar police operation of 30,000 officers.

March 1998 - Policeman guarding shipment of nuclear waste hit and killed by a train at a time of large protests. Two months later, the government halts nuclear waste transports because of safety fears over Castor containers. In the autumn, the Greens enter the government coalition for the first time.

June 2000 - Coalition government including Greens agree with utilities to phase out nuclear power by the mid-2020s.

March 26, 2001 - Castor transport from French reprocessing plant resumes after government says it is safe. Protesters ignore calls by Environment Minister Juergen Trittin, a Green former protester himself, to avoid violent confrontation and try to block rail line despite massive police mobilisation. ((Adam Tanner, Berlin newsroom, +49 30 2888 5223, fax +49 30 2888 5008))

Public Inquiry call over nuclear waste plans (BBC, 30 marzo)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/news/032001/30/tritium.shtml