Germany plans to postpone the closure of the country’s last three nuclear power plants as it braces for a possible shortage of energy this winter after Russia throttled gas supplies to the country, said German government officials.
An aerial view of Isar nuclear power plant in Essenbach, Germany. Isar 2 is one of the last three still operating nuclear power plants in Germany. Credit: Alexandra Beier, Getty Images
Germany plans to postpone the closure of the country’s last three nuclear power plants as it braces for a possible shortage of energy this winter after Russia throttled gas supplies to the country, said German government officials.
While temporary, the move would mark the first departure from a policy initiated in the early 2000s to phase out nuclear energy in Germany and which had over time become enshrined in political consensus.
The decision has yet to be formally adopted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s cabinet and would likely require a vote in parliament. Some details are still under discussion, three senior government officials said. A cabinet decision would also need to wait on the outcome of an assessment of Germany’s energy needs that will be concluded in the coming weeks but which the officials said was a foregone conclusion.
Still, while a formal decision could be weeks off, the government believes two key conditions allowing a temporary extension of the life of the three remaining plants, now expected to close on December 31, have been met: Germany is facing a likely shortage of gas and letting the reactors operate longer poses no safety concern, the officials said.
“The reactors are safe until December 31, and obviously they will remain safe also after Dec. 31,” a senior official said.
However, Germany’s government denied that it had decided to postpone the closure of its last three nuclear power plants, saying it would make its final decision once it received the results of ongoing stress tests. But debate is intense in Germany about whether to keep them running longer given a possible energy crisis this winter following a decline in Russian gas deliveries. The plants, operated by E.ON, RWE and EnBW account for around 6% of the country’s electricity.
“The government has not yet made any decision about how to deal with the three remaining German nuclear power plants after the end of this year,” a spokesperson stated. “This will happen first in the wake of the results of the stress tests.”
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