German draft coalition deal drops idea of nuclear shutdown fund BERLIN (Reuters) - The latest version of a German coalition deal between Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD) has dropped any mention of a fund aimed at making utilities bear more of the costs of a nuclear shutdown. The parties are in the final stages of talks and aim to have agreed a coalition deal in place on Wednesday. The SPD had wanted to make firms pay more for the dismantling of nuclear power plants and protect taxpayers from billions of euros in related costs. Earlier this month, the idea seemed to have won backing from conservatives. Utilities E.ON, RWE, Vattenfall and EnBW have put aside 30 billion euros in provisions but concerns persist that this may be insufficient to pay for the dismantling of plants and storage of atomic waste. Reporting by Markuks Wacket; Writing by Madeline Chambers