German cabinet approves closure of all nuclear plants by 2022

[News_Editor]

German cabinet approves closure of all nuclear plants by 2022

2011-06-07 05:27:45 GMT+7 (ICT)

BERLIN, GERMANY (BNO NEWS) -- The German cabinet on Monday approved the proposal to close all the country's nuclear power plants by 2022, the DPA news agency reported.

Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said that the decision by the cabinet marked a milestone in the economic and political development of Germany. The nuclear energy will be replaced with renewable sources of power.

In addition, the government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel expects to double the amount of energy generated by renewable sources over the next decade. Germany's opposition Social Democrats and the Green Party demanded renewable sources to generate 40 percent of the country's energy needs.

However, the ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) party decided not to endorse such percentage and instead set a 35 percent target which Roettgen labeled as "challenging but it could also be easily be surpassed."

Currently, renewable sources generate about 17 percent of Germany's energy while nuclear plants provide 22 percent. Last year, Merkel intended to extend the lifespan of the 17 nuclear plants.

Merkel's plans were rejected following the crisis caused by the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan's Fukushima Daiichi power plant last March. Protesters and opposition parties urged the government to modify its nuclear ambitions.

In March, Merkel announced a three-month moratorium that put on hold the plans of extending the lifespan of the German nuclear reactors in order to conduct safety inspections at the nuclear facilities.

In October 2010, the German Parliament approved a nuclear shutdown with a deadline set at 2036. However, pressure from the population and opposition parties caused that the ruling CDU party decided to rush the phase out.

Under the new plans, Germany's seven nuclear reactors constructed before 1980 will be kept offline permanently. Six nuclear power plants would be closed in 2021 and the remaining three in 2022 to ensure the supply necessary energy.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-06-07

[geriatrickid]

And where will Germany send its radioactive waste and fuel rods once these plants are decommissioned? Will it be India or Bangladesh or some African nation , the favoured dumping ground of European toxic waste?

[Steely Dan]

*edited out*

and

2) toxic nuclear waste is generated and has to be either disposed or reprocessed whether power plants are kept operational or shut down.

Does it have to be 'ones business' in order for one to be qualified to comment on a topic? If so I would judge all your trolling and hatemongering on Israel related threads to be off topic.

As it happens I know that Britain's septic Isle is not averse to processing other nations nuclear waste at a price.

Edited June 7, 2011 by Scott
remark edited out

[Scott]

Please stay on topic and keep it civil. Several posts have been deleted.

[Puschl]

Under the new plans, Germany's seven nuclear reactors constructed before 1980 will be kept offline permanently. Six nuclear power plants would be closed in 2021 and the remaining three in 2022 to ensure the supply necessary energy.

Actually those were old plans rumored before the cabinet meeting. The plan approved in the meeting puts the notorious Krümmel reactor which went operational in 1983 on the list of reactors to be kept offline (with an option to keep one of the eight on standby for winter peak demand if requested by the network agency), and foresees a phase-out in several steps between 2015 and 2022, rather than concentrated shutdowns within just two years (2021 and 2022). The plan is pending parliament approval.

See e.g. http://www.dw-world....5134028,00.html

[maidu]

Meanwhile, Thailand stays the course to go nuclear. EGAT's 2010 feasibility report, which cost 175 million baht (paid to a US nuclear engineering company) concluded that nuclear power for Thailand will be low cost, clean, and safe. EGAT hasn't refuted any of that report's conclusions, and still plans to go full speed ahead for establishing several N power plants in Thailand. Thai engineers know better than German engineers. And I'm sure Thai officialdom's sense of responsibility and moral terpitude will outshine the same from German officials.

[Scott]

For a more specific discussion of nuclear energy in Thailand, there are a number of threads open. One of them is this one: