(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN, MAR 5 - Germany will pay energy
companies a total of 2.4 billion euros ($2.9 billion) in
compensation for its decision to exit nuclear energy in the wake
of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, Berlin said Friday. By the end
of 2022, Germany will have achieved its goal of completely
phasing out nuclear power, set by Chancellor Angela Merkel in
May 2011 after a deadly earthquake and tsunami caused three
reactors to melt down in Japan's Fukushima plant. "The
government has reached an agreement with EnBW,
E.ON/PreussenElektra, RWE and Vattenfall," Germany's
environment, finance and economy ministries said in a joint
statement. They added that Berlin would pay a total of 2.428
billion euros compensation to the four companies, all of which
operate nuclear power plants in Germany. The payments, agreed
after a long legal battle between the government and the energy
companies, will cover both the costs of unproduced electricity
and investments the companies had made before Germany decided on
its nuclear departure in 2011.
"The agreement has no impact on the exit from nuclear power. It
is still the case that the last German nuclear plant will be
shut down by the end of 2022 at the latest," the statement
added. (ANSA-AFP).
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