UPDATE 1-Mood for nuclear power in Germany improving - E.ON

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By Erik Kirschbaum

BERLIN, July 10 (Reuters) - E.ON EONG.DE Chief Executive Wulf Bernotat said on Thursday he had sensed a shift in the mood for nuclear power in Germany but did not expect an imminent deal to repeal a law to shut the country's nuclear plants by 2021.

Bernotat told journalists in Berlin he believed it would be possible at some point to revoke the law as public opposition to nuclear power wanes.

He also said E.ON, Europe's largest utility, does not want to build new nuclear plants and is only interested in extending the life of those on line.

"Nuclear energy is celebrating a remarkable renaissance at the moment in Europe, Asia and in the United States," Bernotat said. "Even in Germany there has been a gradual, albeit very gradual, warming towards nuclear power."

Rising fuel prices and concerns about climate change have led the search for cleaner alternatives, including nuclear power, to the more polluting traditional sources of energy.

Germany gets just under a third of its energy from its 17 remaining nuclear power plants. The grand coalition government remains committed to shutting down those by 2021. The law was put in place in 2000 by the previous SPD-Greens government.

The SPD and Greens called the nuclear exit a historic step and hoped other industrial nations would follow. Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats wanted to scrap the law in 2005 when they took power but the SPD, their coalition partner, is opposed to any change.