Germany to go nuclear-free by 2022 (VIDEO)
Germany vowed to focus on renewable energies like wind power instead of nuclear power, especially after the Fukishima disaster. Angela Merkel is seen here in May 2011 with a model of Germany’s first offshore windfarm in the Baltic Sea.
Germany will become the first major industrial nation to completely reject nuclear power since the Fukishima disaster in Japan after voting to shut down all reactors by 2022.
While other nations, including Britain and France, plan to build more nuclear reactors, Germany — Europe's biggest economy — will keep the lights on by using renewables, like wind and solar power, the Telegraph reports, adding: "The decision to reject nuclear came after the fall out from the Fukishima disaster and protests on the streets against nuclear."
Germany’s lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly for the move, with politicians from the center-left Social Democrats and Greens joining with those from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right coalition.
“This is a revolution,” said Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said, Euronews reports. “It is the first time that such a big, industrial country has done such a thing, and we think it is good for the country.”
Germany gets 23 per cent of its power from its 17 nuclear reactors, nine of which are currently running at full capacity, but Merkel claims that wind and solar energy can meet the shortfall.