Germany proposes 12-year nuke licence extension

8 September 2010


Angela Merkel’s government has agreed to extend the lifespan of the country's entire fleet of seventeen nuclear power plants by as much as 14 years. E.ON AG and RWE AG shares, which had been steadily losing ground recently, falling back by a fifth since the beginning of the year, soared in Frankfurt trading after the announcement on 7 September, although they will have to undertake to make payments (on a scale as yet undisclosed) to fund alternative energy projects.

Coalition leaders agreed late on Sunday to allow seven reactors built before 1980 to run eight years longer than planned and 10 newer plants to remain open an additional 14 years, according to reports by Bloomberg. That would mean an average extension of 12 years from the original 2022 shutdown date.

The life extension will be considered by Merkel’s cabinet on 28 September and will, apparently, be written in terms that avoid the legislation's having to go to a vote in the Bundesrat, the upper house of parliament, where the chancellor lacks a majority. Constitutional experts have already warned that extending the running time of nuclear power plants without having the consent of Germany’s upper house of parliament, which represents the 16 individual states, would risk rejection of the legislation in Germany’s constitutional court, its highest court of judicial review.

Merkel is confident that the agreement has a solid legal foundation and says that she takes protests ‘seriously’. However, the extensions may be limited to nine years on constitutional grounds, according to reports in the Handelsblatt newspaper, citing government sources.

Greenpeace and the opposition Social Democratic Party and the Green Party are opposing the life extension.

The SDP and Greens, whose combined support in opinion polls exceeds that of Merkel’s coalition, vowed to annul any nuclear-plant operating extension if they win 2013 elections, the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper said, citing SDP leader Sigmar Gabriel and Green co-chairwoman Claudia Roth.

Greenpeace also says that if parliament approves the changes it is ready to challenge the ruling in the Constitutional Court.

Greenpeace International Climate and Energy Campaigner, Jan Beranek said: "This is not only a decision against the environment and putting people’s lives at risk, it is also a decision against the German economy. Merkel is making a grave mistake by going into reverse gear and Greenpeace will fight it. Since Germany decided in 2001 to steadily phase out its nuclear reactors, the country has become world’s leader in expansion of modern renewable energy supply. The decision to stick with old risky reactors would wipe out German’s leading position on 21st century technologies that have already created a quarter million new jobs. It is also a blow to the wide political and public consensus negotiated ten years ago. Only several large corporations would benefit from it with massively increased profits, the rest of society would badly lose out.“

Numerous studies have proved that Germany can reduce greenhouse emissions and secure affordable energy supplies without nuclear reactors."




Linkedin Linkedin   
Privacy Policy
We have updated our privacy policy. In the latest update it explains what cookies are and how we use them on our site. To learn more about cookies and their benefits, please view our privacy policy. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies. By continuing to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with our privacy policy unless you have disabled them.