“Nuclear phase-out: Trouble in the home stretch”

Last year’s agreement on financing the nuclear clean-up between the German state and nuclear power providers does not seem to have brought permanent peace as utilities refuse to drop the lawsuits against the nuclear fuel tax, write Jürgen Flauger and Klaus Stratmann in Handelsblatt. During the contract negotiations on the details of the agreement over the past months, utilities had signalled their willingness to end several legal proceedings concerning nuclear power, but not the one against the fuel tax, write Flauger and Stratmann. Dropping the lawsuits was “definitely not acceptable,” said the providers. The tax – introduced in 2011 – is payable by nuclear power station operators whenever they use new fuel elements in their reactors.

Read the article (behind paywall) in German here.

For background read the CLEW factsheet Securing utility payments for the nuclear clean-up and Legal disputes over the nuclear phase-out.