Eastern enthusiasm for nuclear power has caused some friction with the West. For example, Austrians have tried unsuccessfully to force the Czech Republic to shut down its Temelin nuclear plant, 40 miles from the Austrian border, on safety grounds, and the plant may become an issue in the talks over Czech membership in the European Union. Nuclear industry officials say the new plants being built in Eastern Europe are vastly improved over Chernobyl both in terms of safety and efficiency. But no matter how well designed a nuclear power plant may be, environmentalists say, it still produces waste -- 25 to 30 tons of high-level waste a year for a large plant, and a good deal more low-level waste. ''They give us the choice between plague or cholera -- either global warming or nuclear waste,'' said Michaele Hustedt, a spokeswoman for the Green Party in Germany
