In just 11 years time Germany will have shut down all of it's nuclear power plants. The decision by the country's ruling coalition came after Chancellor Angela Merkel set up an ethics panel to look into nuclear power following the disaster at the Fukushima plant in Japan.
While nuclear only accounts for 23% of its energy, Germany is the first major industrialised power to turn it's back on nuclear power.
But the announcement which came in the early hours of today, raises many more questions than it answers. What will replace nuclear energy? Can that be achieved by 2022? What will the cost be to to the German economy? Is this just knee jerk reaction to the disaster in Japan? And could a change of government in Germany bring a u-turn?
Last month thousands of people in France and Germany staged protests against nuclear power.
It was a response to the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and Fukushima earlier this year.
This blogger think it is poorly thought through and it's the environment that will suffer.
This piece is written by friend of the programme, the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's Germany Correspondent Stephen Evans...
The difficulty is that many nuclear power stations are in the south.....The idea is that wind farms in the north might take up the slack. But that implies new high-voltage cables with very high pylons to match. As Johannes Teyssen, chief executive of the huge energy company E.On put it: "We lack the necessary power lines to transmit wind-generated electricity from the north. This could lead to massive problems in the grid, even power outages." We'll look at Germany's options and how people in germany and beyond are responding to the news.
Your comments
Comment sent via unknown: 23129
12:33
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<b><font size="2">Ramanafan on Twitter</font></b><font size="2"> - </font></p>
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<font size="2">Even if Japan wanted to be free of nuclear, it can not, as the scar/damage to remain almost permanently.</font></p>
Comment sent via unknown: 23129
12:32
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<b><font size="2">Karl-Friedrich on the Lenz blog </font></b><font size="2">- </font></p>
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<font size="2">I disagree strongly with this decision. It will make it harder to stop global meltdown. That task is hard enough already, and the risks from global meltdown are much more severe than those from nuclear energy.</font></p>
Comment sent via unknown: 23129
12:32
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<p>
<strong><span lang="EN-GB">Jake0112 on Twitter - </span></strong></p>
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<span lang="EN-GB">This is a total overreaction. We're not progressing anymore</span></p>
Comment sent via unknown: 23129
12:31
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<strong><span lang="EN-GB">Jahrhundertprojekt on Der Spiegel</span></strong></p>
<p>
<span lang="EN-GB">Common sense prevails has prevailed - for whatever reason; it doesn't matter. This is a green exit strategy and it works.</span></p>
Comment sent via unknown: 23129
12:30
113631290
<p>
<strong><span lang="EN-GB">Jahrhundertprojekt on Der Spiegel</span></strong></p>
<p>
<span lang="EN-GB">Common sense prevails has prevailed - for whatever reason; it doesn't matter. This is a green exit strategy and it works.</span></p>
Comment sent via SMS
12:29
118010343
Bravo Germany. Decomissioning your nuclear plants is a cleaver move toward a ’greener’ world that cares more about people’s safety than money. Here in Liberia, plans are underway to build biomass power plants - using renewables. This is also cleaver! Bookman Muapoe in Liberia.
Comment sent via unknown: 23129
12:29
113631290
<p>
<font size="2"><strong>Egeonu Obinna</strong></font></p>
<p>
<font size="2">Nice step 2 a safer world. Iran shld borrow a leaf and stop playing hide and seek, is a dangerous game</font></p>
Comment sent via unknown: 23129
12:28
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<strong><font size="2">Alex Hibbert on Twitter -</font></strong></p>
<p>
<font size="2">I think this is a step in the wrong direction - losing efficient power in a country with a low earthquake risk.</font></p>
Comment sent via Facebook
12:27
113631290
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<b><font size="2">Maya in Canada on Facebook </font></b><font size="2">-</font></p>
<p>
<font size="2">wonderful news!! Green energy is the way of the future, and a great way to make new jobs for many of the unemployed people in Germany. I wish the rest of the world would follow their lead. </font></p>
Comment sent via BLOG
12:27
113631290
<p>
<b><font size="2">Stefan Dietrich in Frankfurt Allgemeine -</font></b></p>
<p>
<font size="2">The experts are hampering the progress desired in Germany. The federal government has self-selected "wise men" to give them the advice they wanted - that getting off nuclear in ten years is "doable." But this path is rocky - and might even be impassible.</font></p>
Is Germany right to give up on nuclear energy?
| Monday, 5 May 2011 | 12:00 - 12:30 GMT
In just 11 years time Germany will have shut down all of it's nuclear power plants. The decision by the country's ruling coalition came after Chancellor Angela Merkel set up an ethics panel to look into nuclear power following the disaster at the Fukushima plant in Japan.
While nuclear only accounts for 23% of its energy, Germany is the first major industrialised power to turn it's back on nuclear power.
But the announcement which came in the early hours of today, raises many more questions than it answers. What will replace nuclear energy? Can that be achieved by 2022? What will the cost be to to the German economy? Is this just knee jerk reaction to the disaster in Japan? And could a change of government in Germany bring a u-turn?
Last month thousands of people in France and Germany staged protests against nuclear power.
It was a response to the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and Fukushima earlier this year.
This blogger think it is poorly thought through and it's the environment that will suffer.
This piece is written by friend of the programme, the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's Germany Correspondent Stephen Evans...
The difficulty is that many nuclear power stations are in the south.....The idea is that wind farms in the north might take up the slack. But that implies new high-voltage cables with very high pylons to match. As Johannes Teyssen, chief executive of the huge energy company E.On put it: "We lack the necessary power lines to transmit wind-generated electricity from the north. This could lead to massive problems in the grid, even power outages."
We'll look at Germany's options and how people in germany and beyond are responding to the news.
Your comments
Comment sent via unknown: 23129
<p> <b><font size="2">Ramanafan on Twitter</font></b><font size="2"> - </font></p> <p> <font size="2">Even if Japan wanted to be free of nuclear, it can not, as the scar/damage to remain almost permanently.</font></p>
Comment sent via unknown: 23129
<p> <b><font size="2">Karl-Friedrich on the Lenz blog </font></b><font size="2">- </font></p> <p> <font size="2">I disagree strongly with this decision. It will make it harder to stop global meltdown. That task is hard enough already, and the risks from global meltdown are much more severe than those from nuclear energy.</font></p>
Comment sent via unknown: 23129
<p> <strong><span lang="EN-GB">Jake0112 on Twitter - </span></strong></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">This is a total overreaction. We're not progressing anymore</span></p>
Comment sent via unknown: 23129
<p> <strong><span lang="EN-GB">Jahrhundertprojekt on Der Spiegel</span></strong></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">Common sense prevails has prevailed - for whatever reason; it doesn't matter. This is a green exit strategy and it works.</span></p>
Comment sent via unknown: 23129
<p> <strong><span lang="EN-GB">Jahrhundertprojekt on Der Spiegel</span></strong></p> <p> <span lang="EN-GB">Common sense prevails has prevailed - for whatever reason; it doesn't matter. This is a green exit strategy and it works.</span></p>
Comment sent via SMS
Bravo Germany. Decomissioning your nuclear plants is a cleaver move toward a ’greener’ world that cares more about people’s safety than money. Here in Liberia, plans are underway to build biomass power plants - using renewables. This is also cleaver! Bookman Muapoe in Liberia.
Comment sent via unknown: 23129
<p> <font size="2"><strong>Egeonu Obinna</strong></font></p> <p> <font size="2">Nice step 2 a safer world. Iran shld borrow a leaf and stop playing hide and seek, is a dangerous game</font></p>
Comment sent via unknown: 23129
<p> <strong><font size="2">Alex Hibbert on Twitter -</font></strong></p> <p> <font size="2">I think this is a step in the wrong direction - losing efficient power in a country with a low earthquake risk.</font></p>
Comment sent via Facebook
<p> <b><font size="2">Maya in Canada on Facebook </font></b><font size="2">-</font></p> <p> <font size="2">wonderful news!! Green energy is the way of the future, and a great way to make new jobs for many of the unemployed people in Germany. I wish the rest of the world would follow their lead. </font></p>
Comment sent via BLOG
<p> <b><font size="2">Stefan Dietrich in Frankfurt Allgemeine -</font></b></p> <p> <font size="2">The experts are hampering the progress desired in Germany. The federal government has self-selected "wise men" to give them the advice they wanted - that getting off nuclear in ten years is "doable." But this path is rocky - and might even be impassible.</font></p>