German cabinet agrees to nuclear energy phase out

Under the plans agreed to by the cabinet in Berlin, eight atomic reactors are to be shut down immediately as the government rolls back in stages the number of nuclear installations in operation.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Philipp Roesler, left, arrive for the weekly cabinet meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, on Monday. The German government approved the plan that all the country's nuclear power plants should be phased out by 2022. Photo: AP.

The German cabinet agreed on Monday to plans for the nation to phase out nuclear energy by 2022.

Chancellor Angela Merkel was forced to abandon a decision made just last year to extend the life of Germany’s nuclear power facilities following the crisis which engulfed Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant in March. Instead, Berlin is to exit nuclear energy over the next 11 years.

Under the plans agreed to by the cabinet in Berlin, eight atomic reactors are to be shut down immediately as the government rolls back in stages the number of nuclear installations in operation.

Officials are to decide next week if one reactor should be maintained on a standby basis.

Renewable sources of power currently make up about 17 per cent of the country’s energy needs, while atomic energy makes up 22 per cent.

Parliament is to consider the government’s change in its energy strategy before the parliamentary summer break.