Germany Closes its Last Operating Nuclear Power Plants on April 15

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is backing Saturday's planned shutdown of the country's last three operating nuclear power plants, even though one of the smaller partners in his coalition government, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), is proposing to keep the reactors as an energy "reserve," reports DPA, quoted by BTA.

"The shutdown of nuclear power plants on April 15, this Saturday, is based on a final agreement, something that the chancellor has repeatedly emphasized," German deputy government spokesman Christiane Hoffmann said in Berlin yesterday.

The governing coalition in the Federal Republic consists of three political formations - the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Chancellor Scholz, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and "Alliance 90"/"The Greens".

The leader of the SPD parliamentary group, Christian Dürr, urged on Tuesday to the German public broadcaster ARD: "Let's at least not start dismantling them (the reactors) immediately, but at least keep them as a reserve."

Representatives of the coalition partners in the cabinet in Berlin replied that this was not possible and "would not be legal".

"A nuclear power plant is not a garden shed that can be dismantled today or maybe tomorrow. It is an extremely complex and elaborate process," said a spokesman for the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, which is under the control of "Alliance 90"/"The Greens".

All nuclear plants in Germany were to be shut down by the end of last year under a decision that was backed by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and then confirmed by the three political formations in the current ruling coalition. But the fallout from the war in Ukraine and the sharp curtailment of Russian gas supplies have forced Europe's biggest economy to ensure that it will not have to go into "power mode" this winter. The plant shutdown was therefore postponed to April 15, 2023.

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