Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel has said there are no technical reasons that would prevent Germany's nuclear power plants being given operating extensions of 10 to 15 years past their current proposed shutoff dates in about 2022.
Ms Merkel said: “On technical grounds, 10 to 15 years is reasonable.” She also said a report by independent consultants into Germany’s possible energy options is due to be published in the coming week.
Ms Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) came to power last year promising to allow Germany’s 17 commercially operational nuclear reactors a longer lease of life.
She added yesterday: “I nevertheless have to consider as head of government how we integrate safety as the overriding principle of nuclear energy.”
“As regards certainty of supply, the price of electricity and achievement of emissions targets, nuclear energy is desirable as an interim technology.”
Ms Merkel has also proposed the idea of a tax on nuclear fuel to raise 2.3 billion euro (2.9 billion US dollars) as part of the government’s “fiscal consolidation efforts”.
But a new lobbying group set up last week has said it is against the tax proposal. The group’s 41 members include the chief executives of all four German nuclear utilities E.ON, EnBW, RWE and Vattenfall Europe.
Under legislation passed by a previous German government of Social Democrats and Greens, nuclear power is supposed to be phased out after each reactor has produced its remaining quota of electricity. That would mean final closure in about 2022.
The CDU says it will build no new plants, but wants to run the existing plants longer until renewable energy becomes economic.
