FILE – Smoke rises from the nuclear power plant of Nerckarwestheim in Neckarwestheim, Germany, Aug. 22, 2022. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ordered ministers Monday Oct. 17, 2022, to prepare to keep all of the country’s three remaining nuclear plants running until mid-April, putting his foot down on an issue that had threatened to split his three-party government. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File)

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ordered ministers Monday to prepare to keep all of the country’s three remaining nuclear plants running until mid-April, putting his foot down on an issue that had threatened to split his three-party government.

The decision comes as Germany tries to prevent a possible energy crunch due to cuts in fuel supplies from Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Scholz’s office said he announced the decision in a letter to the Cabinet, an unusual move reflecting the deep divisions that had riven his junior coalition partners on the issue in recent weeks.

The environmentalist Greens, led by Economy and Energy Minister Robert Habeck, had argued that only two nuclear plants in southern Germany — Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim 2 — should be able to keep operating beyond the scheduled shutdown on Dec. 31 to ease possible power shortages over the winter.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the pro-business Free Democrats had suggested all three — including the Emsland reactor in the northwest — should stay online, even beyond April if necessary. Some Free Democrats had even called for three other nuclear plants that were shut down last year to be powered up again in the face of high energy prices and possible blackouts.

Successive German governments have committed to ending the country’s use of nuclear power by the end of the year as part of its transition to safe, renewable energy.

But the war in Ukraine, which has resulted in a sharp cut in natural gas supplies from Russia to Europe, prompted Germany to reactivate old coal and oil-fired power plants. Climate activists such as Sweden’s Greta Thunberg, and others, have argued that it’s a mistake for Germany to switch off its existing nuclear plants if that means burning more planet-heating coal.

Experts say the nuclear power plants are mainly needed to maintain grid stability at times of high electricity demand — including from neighboring France, whose own nuclear reactors have faced a series of problems this year.

In addition to temporarily extending the lifetime of Germany’s nuclear plants, Scholz said his Social Democrat-led government will propose “ambitious” legislation to increase energy efficiency, enshrining in law a plan to end coal use in western Germany by 2030 and building new power plants that can burn hydrogen.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2022. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

  • 0045 WBPC 2023 Bright Colors P
    0045 WBPC 2023 Bright Colors P
  • 0044 PTRC CCUS Aquistore
    0044 PTRC CCUS Aquistore
  • 0043 ALX ten sizes
    0043 ALX ten sizes
  • 0042 Sask Oilfield Services
    0042 Sask Oilfield Services
  • 0039 Summit ESP Saskatchewan lower third
    0039 Summit ESP Saskatchewan lower third
  • 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
    0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
  • 0040 Southeast College safety tickets
    0040 Southeast College safety tickets
  • 0033 Buffalo Potash Jared Small Footprint
  • 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
  • 0029 Latus Viro updated Latus phone
  • 0025 Kendalls
  • 0026 Buffalo Potash Quinton Salt
  • 0023 LC Trucking tractor picker hiring mix
  • 0022 Grimes winter hiring
  • 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
  • 0019 Jerry Mainil Ltd hiring dugout
  • 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
  • 0014 Buffalo Potash What if PO
  • 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
  • 0011
  • 0006 JK Junior
  • 0004 Royal Helium PO Ad 02
  • 9001
  • 0002

 

Green Canadian hydrogen not an immediate solution to Germany’s energy worries