Caption: Grafenrheinfeld Nuclear Power Plant
BERLIN (AP) - Germany's oldest remaining nuclear reactor
has been shut down, part of a move initiated four years ago
to switch off all its nuclear plants by the end of 2022.
The
Grafenrheinfeld reactor in the southern state of Bavaria
was taken offline as scheduled overnight, authorities and
operator
E.ON said Sunday.
Grafenrheinfeld went into service in 1981. It is the first
reactor to close since Germany switched off the oldest eight
of its 17 nuclear reactors in 2011, just after Japan's
Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.
The next to close will be one of two reactors at the
Gundremmingen plant in Bavaria, which is set to shut by the
end of 2017. The rest will be closed by the end of 2022.
Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks said the
Grafenrheinfeld shutdown is "a visible signal that the
nuclear exit is moving forward."
"Every nuclear power station that goes offline reduces the
so-called residual risk that is linked to the use of nuclear
power plants and moves us a step forward in the
reorganization of our energy supply," she said.
Germany aims to generate 80 percent of its electricity from
renewable sources by 2050.
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