Although facing a worst-case scenario after running out of Russian gas, Germany shut down its last three nuclear reactors on Saturday, plant operators said, marking the culmination of more than 20 years of phasing out nuclear power. AFP reports. Over the past two decades, Germany has closed 16 reactors.

The Isar 2 (southeast), Neckarwestheim (southwest) and Emsland (northwest) plants were off by midnight as planned, with energy company RWE describing the shutdown as “the end of the ages,” according to a press release.

Europe’s largest industrial nation has within months honored an energy transition program launched in the early 2000s and accelerated in 2011 after the Fukushima disaster by a stunning reshuffle of former chancellor Angela Merkel.

This strategy of abandoning nuclear energy, which is perceived by a large part of the population as dangerous, causes dissatisfaction among many of Germany’s partners, who believe that nuclear energy plays a role in the decarbonization of electricity production.

The gas crisis caused by the war in Ukraine created additional pressure on Berlin and revived the debate both at the level of the political class and at the level of public opinion about the feasibility of closing the plants. Since 2003, Germany has closed 16 reactors.

Germany’s goal: renewable energy

The invasion of Ukraine was a turning point. Deprived of Russian gas, Germany was exposed to the darkest economic scenarios.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government extended the reactors’ operation by several months compared to the shutdown originally scheduled for December 31. The latter three plants provided just 6% of the electricity generated in Germany last year, while nuclear power accounted for 30.8% of the mix in 1997.

Meanwhile, the share of renewable energy is set to reach 46% in 2022, up from less than 25% a decade ago. But in Germany, the biggest CO2 emitter in the European Union, coal still accounts for a third of electricity generation, increasing by 8% last year to cope with the lack of Russian gas.

France, with 56 reactors, remains the country with the highest level of nuclear energy per capita in the world. At the European level, there are major differences between Paris and Berlin regarding the role of this type of energy.

Germany prefers to focus on its goal of meeting 80% of its electricity needs with renewable energy by 2030, while closing coal-fired power plants by 2038 at the latest (Agerpres).