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The German government's decision to shut all nuclear reactors by 2022 may serve as an international example. German Chancellor Angela Merkel believes this will create huge opportunities for the future.
Germany wants to shut down all its nuclear reactors by 2022, Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition declared on Monday.
Merkel says the decision means "huge opportunities for future generations."
[Angela Merkel, German Chancellor]:
"Step by step, we will abandon nuclear energy by the end of 2022. This path is a big challenge for Germany. We believe that our country can become a frontrunner for the creation of renewable energy and as the first large industrial nation, we can create such a change towards highly efficient and renewable energies, with all its opportunities for export, developments and technology which create jobs."
The announcement means a policy reversal drawn up in a rush after the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
Germany's coalition of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and Free Democrats (FDP), sensitive to accusations it may increase dependence on highly polluting brown coal, said it planned to cut power use by 10 percent by 2020.
It has further plans to expand the use of renewables such as wind and solar power.
[Angela Merkel, German Chancellor]:
"We believe that with these decisions, we have the opportunity to create the turnaround towards the electricity of the future. The German government and the coalition is ready to go down this path together and decisively."
The proposal may be even more ambitious than the nuclear exit planned when the Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens were in power in 2000.
It takes 8 of 17 nuclear plants offline now and six more by 2021.
