Following the announcement that Germany would move forward with the planned closure of its last three remaining nuclear power plants, a survey has revealed that the majority of Germans would like to see the plants’ service lives extended.

Germans reject government’s planned nuclear phase-out

Despite Germany’s dependence on Russian gas being called into question following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, two German government ministries have confirmed that the federal republic will continue with its planned nuclear phase-out. This will see Germany’s last three remaining nuclear power plants close at the end of 2022.

However, a survey has since revealed that a large majority of Germans would like to see the service life of these three nuclear power plants extended, given Germany’s dependence on Russian gas imports.

Minister says nuclear is not solution to energy crisis

The survey, which the Civey research institute conducted for the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper, saw 70 percent of respondents indicate that they would like to see the power plants remain open.

Despite this, the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection have said that keeping the power plants operational was not prudent, even with the current energy crisis. Instead, the ministries want to focus on transitioning towards renewable sources of energy.