Germany Decides To Close Down Seven Nuclear Reactors

Wall Street Journal:

BERLIN—Seven nuclear reactors in Germany built before 1980 will be shut during a three-month review of nuclear-plant safety and the country's broader energy strategy, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday.

Mrs. Merkel also said she wanted the Group of 20 leading and emerging nations in France to discuss international nuclear-energy standards at a summit in November, and had asked French President Nicolas Sarkozy to add the discussion to the summit's agenda.

Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal

Comments

[roudy]

12:27 AM on 03/17/2011

Germany had a long range energy program in place to totally eliminate nuclear within 20 years, but Merkel and her party were in the process of trying to eliminate this plan. This will cost her party big loses in the coming elections and probably will be the end of her political career.

Germany will shut down all nuclear within 10 years.

[sals]

01:18 PM on 03/16/2011

I like the way western europe takes charge to protect its citizens....and they are earthquake prone....but they do it on many things we don't ....like jail corrupt bankers, politicians, stay out of wars and if they do join us...pull out when it is in their best interests....they provide health care for their citizens....yes...their taxes play a major part....we also pay high taxes....but we do not have a government that takes care of its citizens first....we have a government that takes care of itself first and the rich.....at our expense....

[lunarsnare]

10:17 AM on 03/16/2011

Oh the tiresome grandstanding.
Not getting enough attention?
Wichtigtuerei
When exactly was the last big quake and tsunami in Germany?

[Caladan]

07:21 PM on 03/16/2011

March 22, 1975: A fire started at Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant when a worker using a candle to search for air leaks accidentally set a temporary cable seal on fire.

The fire spread from the temporary seal into the foamed plastic, causing significant damage to the reactor control cabling in the station.

In a 2005 analysis of significant nuclear safety occurrences in the US, the NRC concluded that the fire at Browns Ferry was the most likely "precursor" incident to have led to a nuclear accident in the event of a subsequent failure.

No earthquake. No tsunami. Just a candle.

[Macready]

09:11 AM on 03/16/2011

good move Angela

[Philament]

12:15 AM on 03/16/2011

If they're the Mark 1 design in a seismically active region, ok, else why?

[whyus]

10:46 PM on 03/15/2011

Sounds like a good idea. Why don't we??

[altohone]

08:46 PM on 03/15/2011

Those insisting we have to choose between coal and nuclear are flat wrong.
Such an argument to sell nuclear is classic marketing, but inaccurate.

Last milleniums technologies are not the only options...

... unless we spend all of our taxpayer research money on the dinosaur industries as they are demanding.

[logicanada]

08:25 PM on 03/15/2011

Gee, Angela, you wouldn't be trading oil futures would you ?

[Panther501]

05:34 PM on 03/15/2011

Paranoia. Plain and simple.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

03:47 PM on 03/15/2011

This is a perfect opportunity for the USA to reduce it's trade defecit being we are the Saudi Arabia of coal and Germany is going to need it to replace their earthquake and Tsunami prone Nuke Plants.

[mike dougles]

03:43 PM on 03/15/2011

Burn more coal.

[PharmaCan]

03:31 PM on 03/15/2011

As more and more countries begin to reassess their reliance on nuclear energy, the search will be on for alternative forms of power generation.

If the United States were to decide today to make a massive investment in R&D for green technology, we could become the world leader in both the development and manufacture of the technologies and equipment that will be needed to replace nuclear power as it is phased out.

Too bad we have corporations that won't take the risk of investing in the R&D and a government that is currently being run by numbskulls who think that "investment" is a dirty word.

[mike dougles]

03:44 PM on 03/15/2011

Yes they will be burning tons more coal, breath it in.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

03:50 PM on 03/15/2011

Well, here in Massachusetts we have "led" the efforts. We, the taxpayers at the discretion of Deval Patrick, our esteemed Governor, gave $58 Million of our tax dollras to Evergreen Solar to build a 450,000 square foot solar manufacturing plant. Less than 2 years later they closed up shop and shipped the jobs to a plant in China. No word yet on our return on investment, of course, we aren't expecting much to be returned if any. FAIL.

[PharmaCan]

04:12 PM on 03/15/2011

Yeah, well, that's why you should have contracts that prevent that kind of thing from happening. Do you think any corporation would make a $58 million investment without making sure there were severe penalty clauses for not doing exactly what they intended to be done with the money?

Of course, if government wants to do that, then that's gubment regulations and heaven forbid the gubment should do any regulating.

[IllTakeTheRedEye]

03:20 PM on 03/15/2011

And once again...
 
Lives had to be lost before action is taken regarding matters that should of been addressed long ago

[ProudAmericanLiberal]

12:20 PM on 03/15/2011

So is Switzerland. This is a good step forward. Now what is France doing with their nuclear white elephants?

[roudy]

12:23 AM on 03/17/2011

France has gone down a dead end road and has no idea what to do. For now their solution is to ship their radioactive spent rods to Siberia, where it sets around in barrels in fenced in storage yards. Of course the ships only arrive in Siberia with a part of their cargo that they started out with....

[hoho5973]

11:12 AM on 03/15/2011

Because earthquakes and tsunamis happen all the time in Germany...

[ProudAmericanLiberal]

12:18 PM on 03/15/2011

Because they plants are old and probably in need of extensive repairs.

[Chinanski]

03:04 PM on 03/15/2011

... because there is so much more that could happen.

And I am not only talking abouth the reactors but all the toxic/nuclear waste.