Today (30th May), an item was posted on guardian.co.uk titled ‘Germany pledges nuclear shutdown by 2022′.
‘… Germany’s ruling coalition says that it has agreed to shut down of all of its nuclear power plants by 2022.
Germany will shut all its nuclear reactors by 2022, parties in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government agreed on Monday, in a reaction to Japan’s Fukushima disaster that marks a drastic policy reversal.
As expected, the coalition wants to keep the eight oldest of Germany’s 17 nuclear reactors permanently shut. Seven were closed temporarily in March, just after the earthquake and tsunami hit Fukushima. One has been off the grid for years.
Another six would be taken offline by 2021, environment minister Norbert Roettgen said early on Monday after late-night talks in the chancellor’s office between leaders of the centre-right coalition.
The remaining three reactors, Germany’s newest, would stay open until 2022 as a safety buffer to ensure no disruption to power supply, he said.
Merkel backtracked in March on an unpopular decision just months earlier to extend the life of ageing nuclear stations in Germany, where the majority of voters oppose atomic energy …
A massive earthquake and tsunami in March crippled Japan’s Fukushima plant, causing releases of radioactivity, sparking calls for tougher global safety measures and prompting some governments to reconsider their nuclear energy strategy.
The German decision still needs to go through parliament and leaders of the opposition Social Democrats and Greens were present at parts of the meeting to enable a broad consensus.
The decision could still face opposition from RWE, E.ON, Vattenfall and EnBW, the utility companies that run the 17 plants, mostly because of plans to keep a disputed nuclear fuel rod tax …’
Read the item in full at www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/30/germany-pledges-nuclear-shutdown-2022
Each nuclear power station kills millions of marine animals every year by operating normally, and nuclear leaks and accidents can cause massive damage, death and destruction.
Posted on May 30, 2011
0