Thursday June 10, 2021
“Milestone on exit”
Billions approved for nuclear power plant operators
For years, four energy companies and the federal government have been fighting over compensation payments for shutting down the German nuclear reactors. Now the Bundestag is giving the treaty the green light. The companies receive billions.
The Bundestag has paved the way for the billions in compensation for the electricity companies. The companies receive the money as compensation for the German nuclear phase-out. The MPs voted in favor of the contract that the federal government had negotiated after years of legal dispute with RWE, Vattenfall, Eon and EnBW.
According to this, the operators of nuclear power plants will receive a total of 2.4 billion euros. It is intended to compensate for the damage caused by the early phase-out of nuclear power and the previously decided extension of the term – for example, through unused electricity or ultimately unnecessary investments.
“This is a milestone on our consistent path to phasing out the commercial use of nuclear energy in Germany,” said Environment State Secretary Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter. The background to this is the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court, which repeatedly confirmed the operating companies’ claim to compensation. As a consequence of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, the federal government at the time decided to phase out nuclear energy in 2011.
At the beginning of March, after years of legal dispute with the energy companies, the federal government decided on a Compensation amount agreed for an accelerated nuclear phase-out. Vattenfall is to receive the largest part of the compensation with 1.425 billion euros. RWE receives a good 880 million euros. EnBW accounts for 40 million euros and Eon for 42.5 million euros.
.