Germany's nuclear power era to end as last 3 reactors set to shut down
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Germany announces it will shut down the last three nuclear reactors despite the energy crisis.
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Steam rises from the RWE nuclear power plant Emsland in Lingen, Germany, Friday, April 14, 2023. (AP)
Germany will shut down its final three nuclear reactors on Saturday, abandoning nuclear power while also attempting to transition itself off fossil fuels and handle an energy crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.
While many Western countries increase their expenditures on nuclear energy to cut emissions, Germany decided to end its nuclear era.
Since 2002, Berlin has been striving to phase out nuclear power, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel expedited the phase-out in 2011 following the Fukushima nuclear tragedy in Japan.
"The risks of nuclear power are ultimately unmanageable," German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke said after visiting Fukushima earlier this week. However, the energy crisis forced Berlin to extend the life of the German nuclear era as no alternatives were possible.
The Energy Crisis in Germany in short
Protests over the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 prompted Merkel to set in motion the process of abandoning nuclear power just over a decade ago.
Germany, where nuclear power has long been a source of controversy before Merkel's decision, has seen a surge of discussion over extending the lifetime of the facilities, which produce 6% of the nation's electricity.
In September 2022, and in a policy reversal at the time, Germany announced that it will maintain two nuclear power plants in standby status through the end of the year as the cutoff of Russian gas imports caused Europe to look for alternative energy sources.
Read more: Germany may fund nuclear power for everyone but itself: Reports
