Nuclear power cons force Germany to opt for renewables instead

Nuclear power plants in Germany once produced a full quarter of the electricity in Europe's largest economy. But the Fukushima reactor incident have accelerated the planned phase-out of nuclear energy in favor of less-risky renewable types of power.

Today, the German government announced that all 17 of the country's nuclear power plants will be shut down by 2022.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that because of what happened in Japan, the government had to reconsider its position last year that aimed to extend the operations of the nuclear power plants in Germany until 2036.

Seeing that such a similarly advanced economy like Japan was helpless in dealing with a nuclear meltdown, Germany will now implement an aggressive phase-out plan that will close down their nuclear power plants in just 11 years.

"We believe that we can show those countries who decide to abandon nuclear power - or not to start using it - how it is possible to achieve growth, creating jobs and economic prosperity while shifting the energy supply toward renewable energies," Merkel told reporters.

Merkel and the German government sees a bright future for wind, solar and hydroelectric power that can one day not only replace nuclear power but give the country a competitive advantage.

"As the first big industrialized nation, we can achieve such a transformation toward efficient and renewable energies, with all the opportunities that brings for exports, developing new technologies and jobs," Merkel added.

Abandoning nuclear power will mean that Germany will need to double its renewable energy output from 17 percent to 35 percent, and building more natural gas plants as backup sources.