BERLIN, Germany - Chancellor Angela Merkel (photo right)announced will shut down all 7 of its nuclear power plants that began operation before 1980 and it is unclear whether they will start up again, the government said on Tuesday.Merkel announced the closures under a nuclear policy moratorium imposed following Japan's crisis, and said they would be carried out by government decree as no agreement with the plants' operators had been reached.
Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said it was not clear if all nuclear power plants shut down during the three-month moratorium would remain closed or be reconnected to the grid afterwards. Merkel astonished German politicians on Monday by suspending an unpopular coalition decision taken only last autumn, under which the life of Germany's 17 nuclear power plants would be extended by years.- Merkel drew accusations yesterday of transparent trickery for the move, with the opposition and media saying she was trying to avoid a regional election disaster later this month.
- Shel announced the closures after a meeting with the premiers of every German state with a nuclear plant.
Last year the government had decided to keep the nuclear plants operated by E.ON, RWE, EnBW and Vattenfall running for about 12 years beyond their original shutdown date, despite protests even before the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on Friday.
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