Germany Gives Up on Nuke Plants

Spurred by the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima plant, Germany’s government has reversed its support of nuclear energy and announced Monday that it will completely phase out the country’s atomic facilities by 2022. Eight old reactors will be shut down immediately, and nine more will be dark within 11 years, Norbert Rottgen, the nation’s environment minister, said, adding that “there will be no clause for revision” of the plan. As recently as March, Germany derived 23 percent of its energy from nuke plants; it will now focus on renewable sources such as solar.