Germany closes its last three nuclear power plants

This is reported by Reuters.

Berlin is decommissioning the last three nuclear power plants in the country, ending a sixty-year period of dependence on nuclear energy.

Emsland, Isar 2, and Neckarwestheim 2 in Lower Saxony, Bavaria, and Baden-Württemberg, respectively, are being shut down. They were supposed to be decommissioned on the last day of 2022, but the government extended their operation until mid-April due to a sharp reduction in the use of Russian gas and rising world energy prices.

It is noted that after these three nuclear power plants provided Germany with 6% of its electricity last year, Berlin will face an unprecedented challenge: to ensure energy supply without nuclear energy or Russian gas. Meanwhile, the share of renewable energy sources is not increasing fast enough.

Critics fear that until Germany has a strong enough infrastructure to produce clean energy, which could take years, the country will use more polluting fuels such as coal to compensate for the losses.

• On April 13, a Russian mine exploded near the turbine room of Unit 4 at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The Russians themselves claimed that their munition detonated.