Germany to decide on nuclear phase-out plans

* Germany to map out its nuclear phase-out plans

* Coalition to meet on Sunday to discuss exit strategy

By Annika Breidthardt

BERLIN, May 29 (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition is expected to formulate a timetable on Sunday for closing Germany's nuclear power plants and a plan for replacing their output.

Merkel in March backtracked on an unpopular decision just months earlier to extend the life of ageing nuclear stations in Germany, where the majority of voters opposes nuclear energy.

Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), her Bavarian sister Christian Social Union (CSU) party and junior coalition partner the Free Democrats (FDP) are due to meet later on Sunday after an Ethics Commission ended its deliberations this weekend.

The commission, set up by the government after the Fukushima nuclear disaster to report on the future of Germany's nuclear power industry, will present its findings formally on Monday.

A massive earthquake and tsunami in March crippled the Japanese nuclear power plant, causing releases of radioactivity, sparking calls for tougher global safety measures and prompting some governments to reconsider their nuclear energy strategy.

A draft of the German commission's report, seen by Reuters, concluded that nuclear power can be phased out by 2021 at the latest, something Bavaria's state premier Horst Seehofer (CSU) was quoted on Sunday as supporting.

One sticking point could be that the junior coalition partner FDP does not want a firm date but rather a flexible window for the exit, plus the option of bringing back at least one of the seven oldest nuclear reactors in case of emergency.

Merkel shut the seven oldest reactors just after Fukushima while her government decided on the future of the industry. It is rumoured they will never reopen.

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For a factbox on changes to Germany's energy policy, click on [ID:nLDE74Q0H0]

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The government also may decide to scrap a tax on nuclear fuel rods, which was expected to raise 2.3 billion euros ($3.29 billion) a year from this year, but so far has not been levied.

Media reports have suggested the tax may be scrapped in return for the power firms supporting an earlier exit from nuclear energy.

Merkel's move to reverse last year's unpopular decision to extend the life of the nuclear power stations has not helped her politically, but instead has drawn scorn from the opposition and from within her own party ranks.

The 17 nuclear power plants are run by four utilities -- RWE (RWEG.DE), E.ON (EONGn.DE), Vattenfall VATN.UL and EnBW (EBKG.DE).

Juergen Grossmann, chief executive of Germany's biggest power provider RWE, has lobbied for nuclear plants to stay open longer, arguing a quick exit would cost energy-intensive industry dearly and could threaten Germany's industrial base.

Last week, environment ministers from Germany's federal states called for all seven suspended reactors to be permanently shut, while the federal environment ministry argued that nuclear power could be phased out entirely by 2017 without causing minor blackouts or large price hikes.

Before Merkel shut down the oldest seven plants for three months, Germany got 23 percent of its power from nuclear plants.

Nuclear policy is more closely watched in Germany than in some of its neighbours and has boosted the Greens party, which has risen from rank outsider to take control of one of the CDU's stronghold states, Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Merkel's majority in the Bundesrat upper house vanished last year after the CDU failed to hold onto North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state. Losing Baden-Wuerttemberg this year, a regional vote held after Fukushima and fought in part over energy issues, dealt another blow to Merkel's authority.

(Reporting by Annika Breidthardt and Hans-Edzard Busemann; editing by Michael Roddy)