German cabinet members voted in a special session Monday morning to confirm government plans to shut down all the country's nuclear power stations by 2022.

This decision means the proposal can now be debated in the houses of parliament, with Chancellor Angela Merkel's government currently hoping to pass the new law on July 8.

Merkel's administration is seeking to hurry through its energy about-face as quickly as possible, having radically altered its approach to nuclear power since the accident at Japan's Fukushima power plant and the resultant backlash to atomic energy in Germany.

'Nuclear energy is a cost-efficient bridge technology which is needed for the transition into the era of renewable energy sources.'

Or at least it was when Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition of conservatives and pro-business Free Democrats was using this line of reasoning to justify overturning her predecessor's timetable for phasing out nuclear power by the end of the decade.

Then Fukushima happened.

While some industry groups in Germany complain about the federal government's decision to phase out nuclear energy by 2022, others, particularly in the renewable energy sector, couldn't be happier.

Manufacturers of solar panels, wind turbines and electricity network systems are among the key groups that stand to benefit most from the country's decision to shut down its nuclear plants. But whether the country's own home-grown manufacturers will be the big winners in the scramble for potentially lucrative contracts remains to be seen.

Hundreds of water tanks are to be sent to Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to hold thousands of tons of water contaminated in the effort to keep its reactors cool, the operator said Sunday.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has sourced 370 tanks with a total capacity for more than 40,000 tons of radioactive water, a company spokeswoman said.

"Two of the tanks got on the way to the plant late Saturday," said TEPCO spokeswoman Ai Tanaka, adding that they would reach the site in two days or so. "It will be in mid-August that all the 370 tanks will get to the plant."

A massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake and monster tsunami knocked out cooling systems at the plant on the Pacific coast on March 11.

In a stop-gap measure to contain the emergency at the plant, workers have been pouring massive amounts of water onto reactors where fuel rods are reported to have melted, and topped up pools for spent fuel rods.