Germany Announced its Plan to Shut its Nuclear Plants by 2022

Germany announced its decision on 30 May 2011 to phase out its all the nuclear plants by 2022. This decision, prompted by Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, will make Germany the first major industrialized nation to go nuclear-free.

People of Germany are strongly opposed to nuclear power and took to streets after Fukushima to urge the government to shut down all reactors as soon as possible.

Germany (Europe’s largest economy) is determined to replace its nuclear power with renewable energy resources. Energy from wind, solar and hydroelectric power at present produces about 17 percent of the country’s electricity.

The decision taken by the Germany suggests that there is no such compulsion on an industrialised society to meet the energy needs of economic growth and rising living standards. In India, there is mounting pressure to meet increasing energy demands. Energy is essential to maintain high economic growth in India. To avoid any Fukushima kind of nuclear accident and to maintain high economic growth at the same time, India must tap newer and safer technologies like river turbines and solar-based technologies instead of relying heavily on nuclear energy.