Chancellor Merkel has opened a meeting in Berlin to discuss the future role of nuclear power in Europe's largest economy amid a dispute over extending the lifespan of German nuclear plants beyond 2021. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hosting a summit in Berlin on the future of nuclear energy in Germany amid a long-running row about extending the lifespan of the country's nuclear power plants. Hundreds of anti-nuclear power demonstrators have been gathering outside the chancellory where Merkel is meeting with fellow coalition leaders Guido Westerwelle of the Free Democrats (FDP) and Horst Seehofer of Bavaria's Christian Social Union, along with other parliamentary leaders. [...] Sunday's meeting focuses on granting the country's nuclear power plants an extra 10 to 15 years of production time and to decide on a levy for the utility companies' expected additional profits.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hosting a summit in Berlin on the future of nuclear energy in Germany amid a long-running row about extending the lifespan of the country's nuclear power plants.
Hundreds of anti-nuclear power demonstrators have been gathering outside the chancellory where Merkel is meeting with fellow coalition leaders Guido Westerwelle of the Free Democrats (FDP) and Horst Seehofer of Bavaria's Christian Social Union, along with other parliamentary leaders.
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Sunday's meeting focuses on granting the country's nuclear power plants an extra 10 to 15 years of production time and to decide on a levy for the utility companies' expected additional profits.
Germany's coalition government has agreed to extend the lifetime of the country's nuclear power stations. "There will be a staggered extension of the lifespans," press agency Reuters reported an unnamed government official as saying on Sunday evening. The official said plants would fall into two separate groups, based on the year that they were built, to determine their closure dates.According to the German news agency dpa, the planned changes would mean that newer reactors built after 1980 would stay open for 14 years longer than originally planned under the government of former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Older plants would be kept open for an additional eight years. Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen and Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle confirmed later on Sunday evening that the extension had been agreed upon.
Germany's coalition government has agreed to extend the lifetime of the country's nuclear power stations.
"There will be a staggered extension of the lifespans," press agency Reuters reported an unnamed government official as saying on Sunday evening.
The official said plants would fall into two separate groups, based on the year that they were built, to determine their closure dates.
According to the German news agency dpa, the planned changes would mean that newer reactors built after 1980 would stay open for 14 years longer than originally planned under the government of former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Older plants would be kept open for an additional eight years. Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen and Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle confirmed later on Sunday evening that the extension had been agreed upon.
