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German govt plan to accelerate closure of nuclear power plants

In brief, the proposed strategy is to close Germany’s seventeen nuclear power plants (with a total net capacity of 20.5 GW) in tandem with faster development of renewable sources of energy, including biomass solar and wind, and constructing 5 GW of new natural gas combined cycle power generation……

German report suggests nuclear power may end by 2017 Energy and Environmental Management 8 June 11 Last week, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Cabinet agreed a plan committing the country to phasing out all nuclear power by the end of 2022. This new draft report, published by an agency of the German Environment Ministry, led by the conservative Norbert Röttgen, explains how this might be achieved in practice. What is surprising is that the Ministry suggest it might be possible to end nuclear power by 2017 – a full five years earlier than expected. Continue reading →

June 9, 2011 Posted by | Germany, politics | Leave a comment

Germany’splan for clear,gradual,exit from nuclear power

Merkel:German Nuclear Exit Gradual; 2022 Irreversible End-date- WSJ.com,3 June 11By Bernd Radowitz, BERLIN (Dow Jones)–-Germany’s nuclear exit will take place in several steps, with the end of 2022 as an irreversible final date for the switch-off of the last nuclear power station, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday after meeting the premiers of German states. Continue reading →

June 4, 2011 Posted by | Germany, politics | Leave a comment

Many thousands of anti nuclear protestors across Germany

25,000 attend anti-nuclear demo in Berlin, Tehran Times, 30 May 11, Tens of thousands of people have been demonstrating in 21 cities in Germany against the government’s energy policy, calling for an end to nuclear power.Around 25,000 anti-nuclear activists protested in the German capital of Berlin on Saturday. Similar rallies were also held in Dresden, Munich, Hamburg, Gottingen and other cities, where the protesters called for a swift exit from nuclear power, a Press TV correspondent reported.“We want to clear an indefinite decision that as many nuclear reactors as possible will close and that for others at least we get a precise date for the shutdown,” Thorben Becker of Friends of The Earth told Press TV……
A study by the German environment ministry has suggested that a phase-out by 2017 would be possible without causing blackouts. …..
Experts say it is crucial that Merkel and her CDU present a plan and a date for the nuclear phase-out as soon as possible, as the protests have sent a clear signal to the government that the majority of Germans oppose nuclear energy. …
tehran times : 25,000 attend anti-nuclear demo in Berlin

May 30, 2011 Posted by | Germany, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Germany’s 7 oldest nuclear plants will not be re-starting

Oldest German nuclear plants to stay closed,  FT.com By Gerrit Wiesmann in Berlin  May 27 2011 The seven oldest of Germany’s 17 nuclear power stations will not go back into operation when a three-month safety review finishes in June, the country’s federal and state environment ministers agreed on Friday. Continue reading →

May 28, 2011 Posted by | Germany, politics | Leave a comment

Germany wants global nuclear safety tests

Germany also wanted to become a model to the rest of the world on climate protection and producing green power.

“We want to reach the era of renewable energy more quickly,” she told the Bundestag.

Merkel calls for global nuclear reactor tests  The Local,  26 May 11 Chancellor Angela Merkel called on the rest of the world to carry out atomic reactor “stress tests” and demanded the G8 take a leading role in nuclear security on Thursday, ahead of a meeting of the group of leading nations.
As Merkel prepares for a Group of Eight summit in Deauville, France, on Thursday and Friday, she told the German parliament that such nuclear plant checks needed to extend beyond Germany and the European Union. Continue reading →

May 27, 2011 Posted by | Germany, politics international | Leave a comment

Germany managing well teh transition away from nuclear power

Germany copes without bulk of nuclear power,  By Vera Ecket and Muriel Boselli, FRANKFURT, May 23 (Reuters) – Germany is coping without about three quarters of its nuclear power capacity by burning more climate-warming coal, reaping the rewards of renewables investments, and importing more French atomic energy. Continue reading →

May 24, 2011 Posted by | ENERGY, Germany | Leave a comment

Childhood leakaemias near nuclear plants – NOT caused by “virus”

Across Europe a number of studies have reported increased rates of childhood leukaemia around other nuclear facilities. In 1992, the German Childhood Cancer Registry found a statistically significant increased incidence rate for leukaemias among children below five years of age within the 5-km-zone around nuclear sites. A second study was published in 1997, and again found increased childhood leukaemias near nuclear plants….

Further analysis of the KiKK study by the German Expert Group went on to state that childhood cancer near to nuclear power plant sites was actually underestimated by the KiKK researchers – and so the risks are considerably above those reported.

Why UK nuclear power plants may cause childhood cancer and leukaemia, The Ecologist, Dr Paul Dorfman, 16th May, 2011You won’t hear the UK government admit it but after decades of research there is now evidence of real excesses of childhood cancer and leukaemia near some nuclear facilities, argues Dr Paul Dorfman Continue reading →

May 17, 2011 Posted by | Germany, health, spinbuster | 2 Comments

German Chancellor Angela Merkel now a force for renewable energy

“We want to end the use of nuclear energy and reach the age of renewable energy as fast as possible,” Merkel said……”It’s over,” she told one of her advisers immediately after watching on TV as the roof of a Fukushima reactor blew off. “Fukushima has forever changed the way we define risk in Germany.”

How Angela Merkel became Germany’s unlikely green energy champion: Fukushima has seen German chancellor Angela Merkel embark on the world’s most ambitious plan to power an industrial economy on renewable sources of energy, Christian Schwägerl for Yale Environment 360 guardian.co.uk,  9 May 2011 German Chancellor Angela Merkel is anything but a left-wing greenie. The party she leads, the Christian Democratic Union, is the political equivalent of the Republicans in the US. Her coalition government is decidedly pro-business. Often described as Europe’s most powerful politician, Merkel’s top priority is job creation and economic growth.Yet if the chancellor succeeds with her new energy policy, she will become the first leader to transform an industrialized nation from nuclear and fossil fuel energy to renewable power. Continue reading →

May 10, 2011 Posted by | Germany, politics | Leave a comment

Renewable energy making good business sense for Germany

Merkel’s big bet is that environmental technology will be one of Germany’s most important sources of income. Already, the country’s share in the green-tech world market is 16 percent, which means billions of Euros in business. Renewable energy has generated 300,000 ‘green collar’ new jobs in the past decade, Röttgen says. Big companies like Siemens and Bosch are determined to become “green multinationals.” Thousands of small- and medium-sized technology companies see green technology as an important part of their business and investment strategy.

How Angela Merkel became Germany’s unlikely green energy champion  Christian Schwägerl for Yale Environment 360, guardian uk   9 May 2011  Germany is in a good starting position,…. Since the 1990s, the Renewable Energy Sources Act has paved the way for billions of Euros flowing to consumers and investors for green power projects. The law guarantees that each kilowatt hour of green electricity is fed into the grid and bought at a favorable statutory rate by operators. The rate varies between green energy sources, but is considerably higher than normal electricity prices. Continue reading →

May 10, 2011 Posted by | Germany, renewable | 1 Comment

German Chancellor wants definite date for closing nuclear industry

Merkel seeks to accelerate nuclear power exit-paper, BERLIN May 2 (Reuters) by Christian Ruettger,  – Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to accelerate Germany’s planned exit from nuclear energy by fixing a precise date, business daily Handelsblatt quoted senior government sources as saying on Monday.

In a high-level meeting last week with Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen and her chief of staff Ronald Pofalla, Merkel pressed for an exact year when nuclear power will be taken off line, the sources said.

Merkel would like to have the nuclear plants switched off before the previous date of about 2022 agreed by the former centre-left government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the sources said…….. http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE7410MU20110502

May 3, 2011 Posted by | Germany, politics | Leave a comment

Green Party’s victory as Germans reject nuclear power

The Green vote was helped by the argument in Germany over its 17nuclear power plants, heightened by the Fukushima disaster

German Greens hail state victory in vote overshadowed byFukushima, Helen Pidd inBerlin, guardian.co.uk,  27 March 2011  

• ‘Historic’ first ever victory in regional Landtag vote

• Chancellor suffers after U-turn on nuclear power Continue reading →

April 28, 2011 Posted by | Germany, politics | Leave a comment

German government under pressure from huge anti nuclear rallies

Demonstrators in Germany Demand End of Nuclear Power, New York Times, By JUDY DEMPSEY, April 25, 2011 BERLIN — An estimated 120,000 people demonstrated across Germany on Monday, protest organizers said, demanding an end to nuclear power and increasing pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to speed up the closing of the country’s 17 nuclear plants.

Demonstrations that take place each year over the Easter holidays have tended in the past to be pacifist, for instance, calling for the end of the war in Afghanistan. But this year, because of the 25th anniversary of the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, in addition the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, the rallying theme was nuclear power.

Some of the biggest protests took place in the western state of Lower Saxony, where, according to the organizer’s spokesman, Peter Dickel, more than 20,000 demonstrators gathered near the Grohnde nuclear plant.

In the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, 17,000 protested at the Krümmel nuclear plant, Mr. Dickel said.

In Bavaria, which has three nuclear plants, more than 15,000 people gathered near the Grafenrheinfeld power plant and thousands of others marched toward the Isar 1 and Isar 2 plants. “We are many, we will be more and we will not keep quiet until the last nuclear power plant is shut,” said Martin Heilig, an organizer of the demonstrations there…….http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/world/europe/26iht-germany26.html

April 26, 2011 Posted by | Germany, politics | Leave a comment

End nuclear energy use – thousands march in Germany

Thousands of Germans march for peace in annual Easter demonstration Google News By The Associated Press 24 April 11,BERLIN — Thousands of Germans demanded peace for the Middle East and an end to nuclear energy use in annual Easter peace marches held in cities across the nation.

Berlin police said some 4,000 turned out for Saturday’s peace march through the heart of the German capital. Many bore signs and banners calling for their army to pull out of Afghanistan.

Peace marches were held in dozens of cities across Germany, including some 200 people who gathered outside of a U.S. military base in Wiesbaden calling for “an end to war and military violence.”. …http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hVBUAkRRam4w7wsf9gfzO8sMw78Q?docId=6647655

April 24, 2011 Posted by | Germany, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Germany determined to close down nuclear power

Germany reaffirms nuclear retreat The Irish Times , Apr 16, 2011 DEREK SCALLY A MONTH after her spectacular U-turn on nuclear energy, Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday gave her officials six weeks to formulate a new national power plan for renewable and gas energy.

After regional election losses thanks to public anxiety over Fukushima, the chancellor admitted yesterday the days of nuclear power in Germany were numbered.

“We all want out of nuclear energy as soon as possible and make the switch to supplying renewable energy,” said Dr Merkel, adding there “is political will to speed things up”…….

Everything changed after Fukushima, when the German leader moved quickly to close seven ageing nuclear plants to permit security tests. They are unlikely to return to the national grid.

Ms Merkel summoned governors of all federal states that have nuclear plants to Berlin yesterday and agreed to seal a deal by June.

Most details of the plan have yet to be drawn up, but a draft has plans for a €5 billion programme to boost renewable energy production. It is likely to include new legislation to speed up planning for renewable energy facilities.

Germany already generates some 17 per cent of its electricity from renewables, a total it wants to increase to 40 per cent by 2020.

Shares in Germany’s big four energy companies fell yesterday in otherwise buoyant trading as investors reacted to the uncertainty. They have launched a legal challenge to the shutdown of the seven plants and have stopped paying into a renewable energy research fund established last October…..Germany reaffirms nuclear retreat – The Irish Times – Sat, Apr 16, 2011

April 16, 2011 Posted by | Germany, politics | 1 Comment

German Bill to shut down nuclear power industry

The main opposition Social Democratic Party will put a bill to the upper house in Berlin today calling for the immediate closure of eight reactors and all 17 nuclear plants to be shut within about a decade. The opposition holds a majority in the upper house, the Bundesrat, where states are represented.

Merkel Faces Nuclear Exit Bill as States Exert Pressure After Japan Crisis, Bloomberg, By Tony Czuczka and Nicholas Comfort – Apr 15, 2011  Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a bid by members of the upper house of parliament to force her to abandon nuclear power as she tries to rally German state leaders behind an overhaul of energy policy by the middle of May. Continue reading →

April 15, 2011 Posted by | Germany, politics | Leave a comment

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