Germany decides to abandon nuclear energy by 2022 (AP)

BERLIN - the Germany coalition Government agreed Monday to early to close nuclear plants by 2022, the country, said the Minister of the environment, making it the first major industrialized nation in the last quarter century to announce plans to go nuclear-free.

Older reactors seven of the country to the already off the grid pending safety inspections after the Central Fukushima disaster of nuclear Japan in March remain permanently offline, Norbert Roettgen added. The country a total 17 reactors.

Roettgen hailed the coalition agreement after negotiations through the night between the ruling parties.

"It's consistent." It is clear, he told journalists in Berlin. "This is why it is a good result."

Chancellor Angela Merkel has pushed through measures in 2010 to extend the life of the 17 reactors in the country, with the last scheduled to disconnect in 2036, but reversed its policy following the disaster of Japan.

"We want the future to be safe, reliable and economically viable electricity", Angela Merkel told journalists Monday.

The energy supply chain the Germany "need of a new architecture," requiring enormous efforts to stimulate renewable energy, gains efficiency and consolidation of the electricity grid, she added.

"We have to follow a new path," said Angela Merkel.

Germany, more great economy of Europe, is the only among the major industrialized countries of the world still using nuclear energy in its determination to be gradually replaced by renewable energy sources.

Italy decided to stop producing nuclear energy after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Through March - until seven reactors have been taken off line - just under a quarter of the electricity of the Germany was produced by nuclear energy, on the same share as in the United States.

Wind, solar and hydroelectric power currently produces about 17% of the electricity in the country, but the Government aims to increase its share to approximately 50 per cent in the coming decades.

Many Germans were fiercely opposed to nuclear energy since sent Chernobyl radioactive fallout on the country. Tens of thousands had on several occasions to the street in the wake of Fukushima to urge the Government to close all the reactors.

A centre-left government there ten years first wrote a plan to abandon the technology for good due to its inherent risks in 2021. But Government Merkel last year amended to extend the life of plants by an average of 12 years.

But the conservative Chancellor reversed its worldwide position after the earthquake and tsunami that paralyzed the plant of Fukushima Dai-ichi on 11 March, triggering a nuclear crisis.

Cabinet Merkel ordered seven older reactors of the country, all built before 1980, closing four days after the incident of Fukushima. Plants accounted for about 40 percent of the capacity of nuclear power plants in the country.

Germany used to be a net exporter of energy, and the Agency to oversee its electrical network said Friday that the country is self-sufficient even without the seven reactors and another plant that has already been disconnected for more than a year for maintenance work.

The decision of the coalition Government largely follows the findings of a commission of Government intervened on the ethics of nuclear energy, delivered its recommendation for the abolition of the technology by 2022 Saturday. Details of the final report must be submitted no later than Monday.

Close the reactors still more, however, require billions of euros of investment in the more central of natural gas, renewable energies and an overhaul of the country's electricity network.

Also, the Government of the neighbours in Switzerland, where nuclear energy produces 40 percent of electricity in the country, announced last week it intends to close its reactors gradually once they reach their life expectancy of 50 years - which would be the last plant off the coast of the grid in 2034.

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The Germany at the nuclear waste by 2022 (AFP)

BERLIN (AFP) - Germany Monday became the first great power industrialized to accept an end to nuclear energy following the disaster at the Japan, with a phase-out to be completed by 2022.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said the decision, hammered by its coalition of center-right from one day to the next day, marked the beginning of a "fundamental" consolidation of the energy policy in the economy of the world number four.

"We want the power of the future to be more secure and both reliable and affordable," Merkel told journalists that she accepted the findings of a commission of experts on nuclear power, that it has appointed in March in response to the crisis at the Fukushima plant to the Japan.

"This means that we must have a new approach for the network of supply, energy efficiency, also followed and renewable energies in the long term from the process," said Merkel, whose popularity has suffered in his previous position worldwide.

The commission considered that it would be viable in a decade in the Germany to suspend all 17 of its nuclear reactors, of which eight are currently off the coast of the electricity grid.

Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen announced the closure progressive early Monday after seven hours of negotiations at the offices of Merkel among partners in the ruling coalition. He said that the decision was "irreversible."

Seven reactors already are offline of the oldest country, whose Government has closed three months pending a probe of security after the urgency of Fukushima.

The eighth is the plant of United, in the North of the Germany, which has been offline for repeated years due to technical problems.

Six other reactors are shut down at the end of 2021 and more modern three would stop operating at 2022.

Decision Monday, which could meet the legal challenges of energy companies, means that Germany will find the 22 per cent of its electricity needs that have been covered by nuclear energy from other sources.

Roettgen insisted that no there was no danger of blackouts.

"Ensure us that the electricity supply will be ensured at all times and for all users", it is committed.

The Government must now determine how it can make the difference with the sources of renewable energy, natural gas and power plants to coal.

Merkel Steffen Seibert spokesman, said the plan would deliver four priorities: standing Germany: a world economy at the top of the page, an adequate and affordable energy supply, climate protection and independence of energy imports.

The decision is in fact a return to the schedule defined by a Green-Social Democrat coalition Government back ten years ago.

It is a lesson in humility u-turn for Merkel, who at the end of 2010, decided to extend the lifetime of the reactors by an average of 12 years, who have kept their open until the mid-1990s.

This decision was unpopular even before the earthquake and tsunami in March severely damaged the installation of Fukushima, creating antinuclear mass demonstrations in Germany.

Merkel zig-zaggant on what has been a very emotional issue in the country since the 1970s he cost in the last elections as the anti-nuclear Greens gained ground.

Nuclear opponents slammed the deal Monday and said they would stage fresh protests the month next call for a more rapid elimination.

During this time industrial giant Daimler warned that closure would undermine the competitiveness of the European economy the top of the page.

"Our backs on affordable energy supply is clearly a risk," Chief Executive Dieter Zetschke told the daily Bild, adding that he saw the decision as "strongly colored by emotions."

Fukushima accident sparked a new global debate on the safety of nuclear power plants, with opinions differ widely.

Minister of environment of Sweden criticized the decision of the Germany, saying it would lead to a disjointed energy policy which is not adequately fight against climate change.

The United States and Britain announced their intention to construct of harmful new reactors as an alternative to the production of greenhouse gas emissions while providing a relatively inexpensive supply of energy.

Italy demolished nuclear in 1987, a year after the Chernobyl disaster, while the Switzerland neighbour, said last week, and that it would gradually be atomic energy by 2034.

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