Other countries, including the United States with its 104 reactors, would be wise to follow Germany’s lead in its decision to shut down its nuclear plants.
George Ismar for the Sydney Morning Herald has the story:
GERMANY has announced plans to become the first major industrialised power to shut down all its nuclear plants, with the last to be closed by 2022.
Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen announced the government's "irreversible" decision, which was prompted by the Japanese nuclear disaster.
Germany has 17 nuclear reactors, eight of which are currently off the electricity grid. Seven of those off-line are the country's oldest nuclear reactors, which the government shut down for three months pending a safety probe after the Japanese disaster at Fukushima. The eighth, in northern Germany, has been mothballed for years because of technical problems.
This is bad news for American power suppliers because closing these plants is going to tell Americans that they are living with a constant threat. The news stopped reporting on the aftermath of the Japan nuclear crisis because corporations depend on cheap nuclear power to make bigger profits, apparently showing victims of their nuclear crisis being turned away from hospitals is not the best way to promote nuclear energy.
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