German Finance Minister Christian Lindner on Monday called for the return to the operation of nuclear power plants (NPPs) in Germany amid the ongoing energy crisis in a proposal that runs counter to the position of the country's coalition government which advocates for the reserve status of the facilities
BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2022) German Finance Minister Christian Lindner on Monday called for the return to the operation of nuclear power plants (NPPs) in Germany amid the ongoing energy crisis in a proposal that runs counter to the position of the country's coalition government which advocates for the reserve status of the facilities.
"We cannot turn off reliable and environmentally friendly production facilities (NPPs) while in an electrical and energy crisis," Lindner, who is representative of the Free Democratic Party included in the ruling coalition, said at a press conference, adding that the German government must "do everything to provide the country with electricity."
He recalled that coal stations, capable of producing additional electricity, were also not running in the country.
Based on these facts, the finance minister urged the German authorities to increase production capacity of the electricity market to curb the rising prices.
Germany first announced its atomic phaseout plans in 2011 in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan. Berlin decided to unplug all nuclear power plants by the end of 2022 and to phase out coal by 2038.
On January 1, 2022, Germany disconnected three of its last six NPPs from the grid. Currently, only three plants � in Bavaria, Baden-Wurttemberg and Lower Saxony � continue to operate in the country. The facilities were initially supposed to be put on reserve until the end of 2022, but German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced the possibility of prolonging the work of the remaining NPPs amid the energy crisis. German Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck, a member of the Greens political party, has spoken out against the continued use of the facilities for electricity generation.
