Germany to quit nuclear power by 2022

(Thanx to Pruthvi for the article)

Germany on Monday announced plans to become the first major industrialised power to shut down all its nuclear plants in the wake of the disaster in Japan, with a phaseout due to be wrapped up by 2022.

Renewables unlikely to fill nuclear gap without bold policy changes - Business & Money (30 May 11)

'This nuclear phaseout is not a revolution starting after Fukushima' - National (30 May 11)

Chancellor Angela Merkel said the decision, hammered out by her centre-right coalition overnight, marked the start of a "fundamental" rethink of energy policy in the world's number four economy.

"We want the electricity of the future to be safer and at the same time reliable and affordable," Merkel told reporters as she accepted the findings of an expert commission on nuclear power she appointed in March in response to the crisis at Japan's Fukushima plant.

"That means we must have a new approach to the supply network, energy efficiency, renewable energy and also long-term monitoring of the process," she said.

The commission found that it would be viable within a decade for Germany to mothball all 17 of its nuclear reactors, eight of which are currently off the electricity grid.

Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen announced the decision by the government in the early hours of Monday morning, describing it as "irreversible."

"This decision is consistent, decisive and clear," he said.

Most of Germany's 17 will be shut down by 2021, though if the transition to other forms of power proves difficult, three of the newest reactors can be kept online until 2022.