Germany will keep its three nuclear power plants still open until April 2023

Germany will create the “legal bases” necessary to keep the three nuclear power plants still in operation open until mid-April, the chancellor announced. Olaf Scholz on Monday, given the energy crisis facing the country, especially in the face of winter.

“The legal bases will be created to allow the operation of the Isar 2, Neckarwestheim 2 and Emsland nuclear power plants beyond December 31, 2022 until April 15, 2023,” the chancellor said in a letter that AFP was able to consult. .

The government had previously agreed to keep only two of the three plants open beyond their planned closing date.

Europe’s leading economy is striving to reduce its dependence on Russian energy imports after the war in Ukraine.

The fate of the central Emsland (north), had caused friction in the coalition government of Scholz, between the anti-nuclear Greens and the liberal FDP.

But the chancellor finally decided, without a consensus having been achieved before.

Germany had initially aimed to get out of nuclear power before the end of 2022, but the war in Ukraine changed the plans.

The German government also decided to prolong the activity of several coal plants until the spring of 2024, although it set a goal to abandon this energy in 2030.