All 17 German nuclear reactors now look set to close by 2022 at the latest
German chancellor Angela Merkel came to power determined to extend the lives of the country's nuclear power stations, but after the catastrophe in Japan she has bowed to public opinion and abandoned nuclear power.
Germany is to accelerate the closure of its nuclear power stations under an energy strategy agreed at a summit last month between chancellor Angela Merkel and the prime ministers of Germany's 16 federal states. All 17 German nuclear reactors now look set to close by 2022 at the latest. The initiative was taken because of mounting public opposition to nuclear power following the crisis at Japan's Fukushima plant. Such is the changed political climate for nuclear power that Merkel is prepared to ditch the September 2010 coalition deal that would have extended the operating lives of Germany's reactors into the mid-2030s. Instead, expansion of gas and coal capacity is back on the agenda, together with yet faster wind power growth - both part of a six-point plan to make up any power shortfall arising from this nuclear shift. Lighter regulation of new renewable plant and major grid investments to prepare for a renewables-led future are further elements in the package.