Germany saw mass anti-nuclear protests in the wake of the Fukushima disaster
Germany's ruling coalition says it has agreed a date of 2022 for the shutdown of all of its nuclear power plants.
Environment Minister Norbert Rottgen made the announcement
after a meeting of the ruling coalition that lasted into the early hours
of Monday.
Chancellor Angela Merkel had set up an ethics panel to look
into nuclear power following the disaster at the Fukushima plant in
Japan.
Germany saw mass anti-nuclear protests in the wake of the disaster.
'Sustainable energy'
Mr Rottgen said the seven oldest reactors, which were already
subject to a moratorium, and the Kruemmel nuclear power plant, would not
resume.
Six others would go offline by 2021 at the latest and the three newest by 2022, he said.
Mr Rottgen said: "It's definite. The latest end for the last
three nuclear power plants is 2022. There will be no clause for
revision."
Mrs Merkel's Christian Democrats met their junior partners on Sunday after the ethics panel had delivered its conclusions.
Before the meeting she said: "I think we're on a good path but very, very many questions have to be considered.
"If you want to exit something, you also have to prove how
the change will work and how we can enter into a durable and sustainable
energy provision."
The Fukushima plant was crippled by the March earthquake and
tsunami in Japan, causing radioactive leaks that spurred anti-nuclear
protests in Germany.
Mr Rottgen said a tax on spent fuel rods, expected to raise
2.3bn euros ($3.28bn) a year from this year, would remain despite the
shutdown.
Germany's nuclear industry has argued that an early shutdown would be hugely damaging to the country's industrial base.
Before March's moratorium on the older power plants, Germany relied on nuclear power for 23% of its energy.
The anti-nuclear drive boosted Germany's Green party, which
took control of the Christian Democrat stronghold of Baden-Wuerttemberg,
in late March.
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