Germany has announced its intentions to shut down all of its 17 nuclear power plants by 2022 amid a strong political revival of the country’s Green Party.

 

The decision by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government comes as a spate of protests have been held across the nation’s capital to push for the dismantaling of the country’s nuclear power infrastructure. The decision has been heavily attributed to Japan’s Fukashima nuclear disaster, the worst of its kind since the Chernobyl meltdown of 1986.

 

“The seven oldest reactors that have been placed under a moratorium and the Kruemmel nuclear power plant won’t go back online” Germany’s Environmental Minister Norbert Roettgen said. “A second group of six nuclear power plants will go offline at the end of 2021 at the latest and three most modern power plants will go offline 2022 at the latest”

 

Currently, 22 per cent of Germany’s power consumption is serviced by nuclear reactors, while 17 per cent is sourced from sustainable energy providers.

 

The decision comes as Dr Merkel’s Christian Democrats party were beaten by the Green Party in one of the country’s state elections.