Germany should avoid a sudden retreat from nuclear energy, based on a report addressing the safety of the country’s 17 atomic power plants, Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said.
“After this report, the responsible path would be not to exit immediately,” Roettgen said at a press conference in Berlin today. “The decision has to be on the basis of a rational method and a thorough assessment.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to accelerate an exit from atomic energy after the disaster at the Fukushima reactors in Japan stoked safety concerns. In March, she ordered the seven oldest reactors idled during a three-month review of energy policy, driving up European electricity and carbon dioxide emissions prices on lower supply and as utilities boost output from fossil-fuel-fired power plants to compensate.
Roettgen stopped short of saying whether the report means those reactors will restart. The seven oldest plants aren’t as “robust” as facilities built after 1980, the minister said, adding that the report will serve as the basis for decisions to be made by the government on nuclear policy.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-17/german-safety-report-shows-immediate-nuclear-exit-not-needed.html "A quick and rash exit from German nuclear power would raise costs for the whole economy, make us miss climate goals, raise our reliance on fossil fuels and make our power supply less secure, meaning more power imports and problems with network stability," said president Ralf Gueldner"
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/17/germany-nuclear-idUSLDE74G19P20110517Uh oh... the fix is in.