JNS: Germany has shut down its three remaining nuclear power plants in line with a long-planned transition toward renewable energy.
Germany shuts down its Emsland, Neckarwestheim II and Isar II nuclear power units. The RWE energy firm said ‘it’s the end of an era’. The statement came shortly after midnight confirming the three reactors had been disconnected from the electricity grid.
Germany has been looking to leave behind nuclear power since 2002, but the phase-out was accelerated by former chancellor Angela Merkel in 2011 after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.
Even as it ramps up solar and wind power, the German government has admitted that the country will have to use more polluting coal and natural gas to meet its energy needs in the short future. Germany aims to be carbon neutral by 2045.
