For the Ministry of Economy, the plants would result in savings of, at most, 2% of consumption
The German Minister of Economy and Climate Protection, Robert Habeckruled out the possibility of extending the useful life of the country’s 3 nuclear power plants this Sunday (21.Aug.2022).
According to the German newspaper Handelsblatt, Habeck stated that the savings would represent, at most, 2% of gas consumption, which would not be enough to restart discussions on nuclear energy. “It’s the wrong decision given how little we’d save“, said the minister, a member of the Green Party.
Habeck participated in a event of the German government in which the authorities open the doors to talk to the citizens.
In 2011, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel committed to shutting down all nuclear power plants in the country by 2022, shortly after the accident at the Fukushima plant in Japan.
An earthquake struck a nuclear power plant in the region that year, a disaster that caused 18,000 deaths and contamination with radioactive particles over more than 1,000 square kilometers.
Habeck is also open to extending the life of a nuclear power plant in Bavaria, southeastern Germany, if a test proves the need to guarantee power supply in the winter period. The results should be presented by the end of the month, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner, on the other hand, considered that it would be better to extend the life of the plants for a certain period rather than resuming the use of coal plants.
At the beginning of July, the energy regulatory agency in Germany warned about the need for energy savings by the population for the beginning of winter, in December. The warning came after Russia cut off natural gas supplies to the country.
In addition, Germany is supplying energy to France, which has almost half of its nuclear reactors shut down for maintenance, according to the agency. Reuters.
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