A German government commission recommended setting up a special state fund to protect against the financial risks of the country`s decision to completely scrap nuclear energy.
A member of the 19-strong panel, WWF`s Regine Günther, said the proposal had been adopted anonymously, saying it represented "an acceptable compromise."
Under it, German utilities Eon, RWE, EnBW and Swedish-owned Vattenfall are to pay a total of 23 billion euros ($26 billion) into the fund, a sum expected to cover the full costs of the interim and definitive storage of nuclear waste in the country as the nation continues shutting down its atomic plants.
The commission had been set up to make sure that taxpayers would not have to foot the complete bill for Germany`s exit from nuclear power.
Caught unawares?
Eon, RWE and Vattenfall had in the meantime launched legal action in the country`s highest court, demanding compensation for Chancellor Angela Merkel`s 2011 decision to phase out atomic power, arguing the move had invalidated years of costly investment in the sector.
Since the phaseout was agreed, shares in the nation`s two biggest utilities, Eon and RWE, have eased considerably, with the remaining reactors due to be shut down by 2022.
Both companies have been forced to undergo huge restructuring operations, seeing their business split into separate units.
German utilities likely to pay for nuclear waste storage
28 April 2016
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A German commission has unilaterally adopted a proposal requiring the nation`s top utilities to pay for the disposal of nuclear waste. The recommendation comes amid the complete phaseout of nuclear energy.
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