Germany Never to Go Back to Nuclear Energy, Minister Vows

World | January 4, 2013, Friday // 14:03
Bulgaria: Germany Never to Go Back to Nuclear Energy, Minister Vows German Environment Minister Peter Altmeier. Photo from bundeskanzlerin.de

German Environment Minister Peter Altmaier has vowed that Germany would never again return to nuclear energy.

"I cannot see any plausible political line-up that would enable a revival of nuclear power in Germany," Altmaier told Friday's edition of the Leipziger Volkszeitung daily as cited by international media.

He thus replied to EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger, also a German, who doubted Berlin's commitment to phase out nuclear power.

After the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan, Germany embarked on an ambitious "energy revolution", deciding to phase out its nuclear power plants by the end of 2022 and bolster renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind power.

However, concerns have mounted that this would entail a sharp rise in electricity prices amid difficulties in building a network able to transmit energy from the North Sea coast to the energy-hungry south of the country.

The European Union's Energy Commissioner, Guenther Oettinger, told Monday's edition of the Rheinische Post regional daily that there would "still be nuclear power on the German network in 40 years."

He said there were still 140 nuclear power stations in Europe and that nuclear fusion technology was progressing rapidly. "Maybe this technology will one day be accepted in Germany," said Oettinger.

Altmaier also vowed to find a permanent national storage site for nuclear waste by 2030. "We are together looking country-wide," he said, adding that the search would be accelerated in the coming years.

The search would be "co-financed and jointly carried out" by Germany's nuclear energy companies, he said.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!

World » Be a reporter: Write and send your article
Tags: EU, Germany, nuclear energy, nuclear plants, Gunther Oettinger, EU Energy Commissioner, Peter Altmaier

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria