Germany to go Nuclear Free

Archived News, Posted on 31 May 2011

Germany to go 'nuclear-free'
04:47 AM May 31, 2011

BERLIN - Germany's coalition government agreed yesterday to shut down all the country's nuclear power plants by 2022, making it the first major industrialised nation in the last quarter century to announce plans to go nuclear-free.

The decision marks a reversal of policy for Chancellor Angela Merkel, who pushed through measures last year to extend the lifespan of the country's 17 reactors, with the last one scheduled to go offline in 2036.

Her about-face came in the wake of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear crisis triggered by the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March.

Mrs Merkel's party lost control of key state Baden-Wuerttemberg to the anti-nuclear Green Party during a regional election that month. It also finished behind the Greens for the first time in a regional election last week.

Following marathon negotiations that lasted until yesterday morning, Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen announced the details of the government's new approach to phasing out nuclear power.

He said the government will keep the eight oldest reactors permanently shut. Seven were closed temporarily in March, while one has been off the grid for years.

Another six will be taken offline by 2021 and the remaining three reactors, Germany's newest, will stay open for another year until 2022 as a safety buffer to ensure no disruption to power supply.

"It's definite: The latest end for the last three nuclear power plants is 2022," Mr Roettgen said. "There will be no clause for revision."

Some politicians had wanted a clause allowing for the agreement to be revised in future as well as an option to bring back at least one of the seven oldest nuclear reactors in case of emergency.

Mrs Merkel said: "Our energy system has to be fundamentally changed ... We want the electricity of the future to be safer and, at the same time, reliable and economical."

Through March, just under a quarter of Germany's electricity was produced by nuclear power.

Energy from wind, solar and hydroelectric power currently produces about 17 per cent of the country's electricity but the government aims to boost its share to around 50 per cent in the coming decades.

Germany also plans to cut electricity usage by 10 per cent by 2020 and increase investments in energy research.

The Greens have backed wind power but this raises questions over what Mrs Merkel calls the "architecture" of the distribution grid.

With big wind farms planned for the North Sea, energy companies say this will require a new north-south line of high-voltage cables and pylons - something which many residents have already opposed.

Germany's largest power provider RWE, which had suggested ending nuclear power in 2025, also signalled its opposition to the deal and said it would keep "all legal options open".

French officials said Germany's decision will lead to greater dependence on fossil fuels, increase carbon emissions and require imported atomic power.

"Germany will be even more dependent on fossil fuels and imports and its electricity will be more expensive and polluting," French Industry Minister Eric Besson said.

German households pay twice as much for power than homes in France, where 80 per cent of electricity comes from atomic plants, he added. AGENCIES