Nuclear lobby to challenge German exit plan: report
1 of 2. A general view shows the cooling tower and the nuclear power plants ''Isar 1+2'' between the southern Bavarian villages of Niederaichbach and Essenbach near Landshut April 2, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Michaela Rehle
FRANKFURT |
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's nuclear lobby is mulling plans to take the German government to constitutional court, to halt the country's nuclear exit and seek billions in damages, the online edition of Der Spiegel said on Sunday.
A legal opinion commissioned by utility E.On has concluded that the German government's plan to exit nuclear energy by 2022 is unconstitutional, Spiegel's Web site said.
The legal opinion, which was prepared for E.On by law firm Gleiss Lutz, says Germany's current energy strategy infringes on basic property rights enshrined in Germany's constitution, Der Spiegel said, citing a copy of the document.
E.On has said it faces extra financial damages from the fixed shut-off dates, which came in contrast to assumptions that all reactors would run up to 2021-22, and would seek compensation.
Rival utility RWE has also signaled it was readying a legal fight over the government's move to shut the oldest plants.
(Reporting by Edward Taylor; Editing by David Hulmes)
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Since when, even in Germany, are hundreds of billions of euros in vital infrastructure assets subject to hysterical knee-jerking government fiat without even a modicum of due process? If the plants are unsafe, prove it in a court of law.
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