30 May 2011 Last updated at 08:25 ET
Germany: Nuclear power plants to close by 2022
Germany's coalition government has announced a reversal of policy that will see all the country's nuclear power plants phased out by 2022.
The decision makes Germany the biggest industrial power to announce plans to give up nuclear energy.
Environment Minister Norbert Rottgen made the announcement following late-night talks.
Chancellor Angela Merkel set up a panel to review nuclear power following the crisis at Fukushima in Japan.
There have been mass anti-nuclear protests across Germany in the wake of March's Fukushima crisis, triggered by an earthquake and tsunami.
'Sustainable energy'Mr Rottgen said the seven oldest reactors - which were taken offline for a safety review immediately after the Japanese crisis - would never be used again. An eighth plant - the Kruemmel facility in northern Germany, which was already offline and has been plagued by technical problems, would also be shut down for good.
Six others would go offline by 2021 at the latest and the three newest by 2022, he said.
Mr Rottgen said: "It's definite. The latest end for the last three nuclear power plants is 2022. There will be no clause for revision."
Mr Rottgen said a tax on spent fuel rods, expected to raise 2.3bn euros (£1.9bn) a year from this year, would remain despite the shutdown.
Mrs Merkel's centre-right Christian Democrats met their junior partners on Sunday after the ethics panel had delivered its conclusions.
Before the meeting she said: "I think we're on a good path but very, very many questions have to be considered.
"If you want to exit something, you also have to prove how the change will work and how we can enter into a durable and sustainable energy provision."
The previous German government - a coalition of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens - decided to shut down Germany's nuclear power stations by 2021.
However, last September Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition scrapped those plans - announcing it would extend the life of the country's nuclear reactors by an average of 12 years.
Ministers said they needed to keep nuclear energy as a "bridging technology" to a greener future.
The decision to extend was unpopular in Germany even before the radioactive leaks at the Fukushima plant.
But following Fukushima, Mrs Merkel promptly scrapped her extension plan, and announced a review.
Greens boostedGermany's nuclear industry has argued that an early shutdown would be hugely damaging to the country's industrial base.
Before March's moratorium on the older power plants, Germany relied on nuclear power for 23% of its energy.
The anti-nuclear drive boosted Germany's Green party, which took control of the Christian Democrat stronghold of Baden-Wuerttemberg, in late March.
Shaun Burnie, nuclear adviser for environmental campaign group Greenpeace International, told the BBC World Service that Germany had already invested heavily in renewable energy.
"The various studies from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change show that renewables could deliver, basically, global electricity by 2050," he said.
"Germany is going to be ahead of the game on that and it is going to make a lot of money, so the message to Germany's industrial competitors is that you can base your energy policy not on nuclear, not on coal, but on renewables."
Shares in German nuclear utilities RWE and E.On fell on the news, though it had been widely expected.
But it was good news for manufacturers of renewable energy infrustructure.
German solar manufacturer, Solarworld, was up 7.6% whilst Danish wind turbine maker Vestas gained more than 3%.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13592208?print=true
Utilities Shares Fall As Germany Scraps Nuclear Energy
By Jan Hromadko Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--Shares in German power utilities E.ON (EOAN.XE) and RWE AG (RWE.XE) fell sharply Monday after the government last night said it will accelerate the gradual phase-out of all nuclear power production by 2022 and keep a tax on nuclear fuel rods.
Though a drastic u-turn from a previous German policy settled in 2010, the 2022 phase-out was largely expected given the strong anti-nuclear shift in German politics after Fukushima. However, the decision to keep the nuclear tax in place and not give relief to the utilities was noteworthy after comments last week from some politicians that suggested the Germany might withdraw the tax.
RWE shares Monday closed lower EUR0.71 or 1.7% at EUR40.31, while E.ON ended the day down EUR0.46 or 2.3% to EUR19.55. Both shares underperformed a broadly flat market.
Meanwhile, shares in solar energy and wind power equipment makers gained sharply as investors anticipated the accelerated nuclear phase-out will result in faster expansion of alternative and greener energy sources. Shares in solar cell makers Q-Cells SE (QCE.XE) and SolarWorld AG (SWV.XE), as well as wind turbine maker Nordex SE (NDX1.XE), closed the trading session sharply higher, posting gains of 8.5%, 8.8% and 13.3% respectively
On Sunday night, Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen announced to reporters following a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Germany would end the use of nuclear energy by 2022 at the very latest.
The country's seven oldest nuclear reactors, which have been shut down since mid-March, will never resume power generation, the government said.
An eighth power plant--the 1.4-gigawatt reactor Kruemmel that has been glitch-prone and offline for the best part of three years--will also be shut down permanently.
By 2021 six other reactors will gradually be decommissioned, while the remaining three will be shut down in 2022.
In 2010, nuclear reactors accounted for around 23% of Germany's power production, making them the second largest contributor to overall output behind lignite-fired power plants.
Roettgen also said the government plans to keep the new tax on nuclear fuel rods that was introduced at the beginning of the year. The tax is expected to generate proceeds of around EUR2.3 billion per year and was officially introduced to help plug public budget holes.
Many observers, however, have also linked the tax to the extension of reactor operating lives, for which the power plant operators had to make several concessions.
RWE and E.ON have threatened in recent weeks that they are considering to sue the government over the levy, particularly if the extension of reactor lives were to be retracted while the tax remains untouched. In a separate a case, RWE has filed litigation challenging Germany's temporary suspension of seven nuclear plants after Fukushima.
RWE Monday said it is in the process to analyze the government's decision, adding that it will keep open all options for possible legal action.
"The planned time-line for the nuclear exit doesn't reflect what we consider necessary...," the company said.
Over the last four weeks, RWE and E.ON had reiterated their earnings expectations for 2011, but had added that the forecasts are subject to changes in Germany's nuclear energy policy.
A spokesman for RWE said that the company would provide a new 2011 outlook at the second-quarter results presentation in August. The company's medium-term guidance will be updated in February, he added.
E.ON couldn't immediately comment on the government's decisions.
-By Jan Hromadko, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 503; jan.hromadko@dowjones.com
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