German nuke plant gets new locks after keys lost

BERLIN, Apr 3 (Reuters) German authorities are changing 150 locks at a nuclear power plant after its owner said they had lost keys to a security area, a ministry spokesman in the south western state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said today.

Plant operator EnBW said that in spite of intensive searches and questioning it had not been able to recover 12 keys for its Philippsburg plant after discovering they were lost in March.

The environment ministry said EnBW informed it the keys were missing and the operator had put extra safety measures in place to control access to the secure area.

''This has never happened anywhere in Germany before,'' the ministry spokesman said. ''The keys have simply disappeared.'' Prosecutors have launched an investigation for theft.

REUTERS TM BS2314