Topic: nuclear power - on December 19, 2011 at 10:26:00 PM CET
Is Berlin Still in the Nuclear Power Business?
The German government may be getting out of the nuclear power business at home, but it is still active internationally. Berlin is currently reviewing applications for federal export guarantees for four nuclear projects abroad. Environmentalists are furious, saying the phaseout must also apply to the sale of atomic energy technology.
Chancellor Angela Merkel was adamant. In a June speech to German parliament on her government's decision to phase out atomic energy in the wake of the March nuclear disaster in far-away Fukushima, Japan, she said "radioactivity is still rising into the atmosphere. ... Fukushima changed my attitude towards nuclear energy."
In the weeks after the disaster, Berlin ordered the immediate shut down of eight reactors. Not long later, her government resolved to decommission the rest by 2022. Now, though, it would appear that German industry is relying on government assistance to pursue the construction of nuclear power plants abroad.
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