Germany has shut down all nuclear power plants in the country

There are no more operating nuclear power plants in Germany. The country's last three operating nuclear power plants were shut down on the night of 16 April 2023.

Here's What We Know

Three plants in Germany remained in operation until 15 April: Isar 2, Emsland and Neckarwestheim 2. They are located in the federal states of Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg respectively.

Environment and Nuclear Safety Minister Steffi Lemke has said that it is impossible to control the risks in the event of an accident at the nuclear power plants. The decision to shut down the last plants has had its detractors. On April 15 they staged rallies in several German cities but it did not help.

German authorities made the final decision to shut down all nuclear power plants in 2011. This happened after the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant disaster in Japan. Germany wanted to shut down all nuclear power plants in 2022, but the shutdown was postponed to April 2023 because of the war in Ukraine.

It should be noted that not all European Union countries go the way of Germany. While Italy and Sweden decided to abandon nuclear energy back in the 1980s following the Chernobyl accident, Belgium has been slow to do so. Brussels postponed the decision to shut down nuclear power plants in the country.

The Netherlands and Poland, meanwhile, want to build new nuclear power platforms. France, on the other hand, with its 57 reactors, intends to remain the leading European country in the field of nuclear energy.

Source: ZDF