Global General

Merkel seeks to accelerate nuclear power exit-paper

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-05-02 18:07

German Chancellor Angela Merkel flies in a helicopter over the Offshore Windpark Baltic 1 near the Baltic sea Peninsula of Zingst, May 2, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to accelerate the country's planned exit from nuclear energy by fixing a precise date, business daily Handelsblatt quoted senior government sources as saying on Monday.

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In a high-level meeting last week with Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen and her chief of staff Ronald Pofalla, Merkel pressed for an exact year when nuclear power will be taken off line, the sources said.

Merkel would like to have the nuclear plants switched off before the previous date of about 2022 agreed by the former centre-left government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the sources said.

Merkel's centre-right government extended that 2022 target date by about 12 years but she has signalled that extension would be scrapped.

So far, no date for an exit had been agreed upon by the centre-right coalition, the sources said. But Merkel now wants to shut down all nuclear power plants even faster than the 2022 date set by Schroeder's government.

In the wake of the nuclear disaster in Japan, Merkel switched from being a strong advocate to taking a tough line on nuclear energy.