Europe News Desk!! Despite the shutdown of nuclear power in Germany, the country’s electricity supply is secure. The country’s three remaining nuclear power plants will be taken off the grid on Saturday. This will phase out the use of nuclear energy in Germany and significantly increase nuclear safety in this country, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action and the Ministry of the Environment said in a joint statement on Thursday. Following the 2011 nuclear accident at Fukushima, Japan, the phase-out of nuclear power in Germany was originally scheduled for the end of 2022 under former Chancellor Angela Merkel. However, due to the energy crisis, the operations of the Emsland, Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim 2 plants were extended until April 2023.
Electricity generation from nuclear sources is set to nearly halve in 2022 compared to last year, accounting for only 6.4 percent of total electricity, Xinhua news agency reported. Economic Affairs Minister Robert Habeck said in the statement that Germany’s energy supply security remained very high by international standards. After losing Russia as its biggest natural gas supplier, Europe’s largest economy increased gas imports from other countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands, and especially from Norway. In addition, liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals have been built in the North Sea. The large-scale expansion of renewable energy is providing additional security, Habeck said. Germany aims to generate 80 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
–IANS
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