Two of Germany's last three nuclear power plants are to be put on standby until mid-April 2023, instead of being shut down as planned at the end of the year, as the government scrambles to find solutions to its energy woes as winter looms.
The two power stations - Isar II in Bavaria and Neckarwestheim in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg - will be kept on reserve in case they are needed to stabilize the electricity grid in southern Germany this winter, Economics Minister Robert Habeck said.
The three plants had been poised to close permanently by the end of this year in a series of policies dubbed the "Energiewende," or "Energy transition," dating back to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's predecessor, Angela Merkel.
But a growing number of politicians have been arguing for their operating life to be extended, saying that this would provide an alternative in case of natural gas supply shortages this winter.
Russia has almost totally cut off deliveries to Germany, in what Berlin calls retaliation for sanctions imposed due to the invasion of Ukraine.
A second of two grid stress tests came to the conclusion that "crises by the hour in the electricity system are very unlikely in the winter of 22/23, but cannot be completely ruled out at the moment," Habeck said in a statement.
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