“Stand your ground!”

The government’s decision to finance the country’s nuclear waste management with a public fund could poison the national debate for years to come, Thorsten Knuf writes in an opinion piece for Frankfurter Rundschau. Nuclear plant operators agreed to pay around 23 billion euros into the fund, relieving themselves of any further liabilities. In return, they are to waive claims for compensation for the 2011 acceleration of the nuclear phase-out – except for two substantial claims they so far appear to be pursuing further, Knuf says. “The government has to stand its ground in the coming negotiations,” Knuf writes, calling on Berlin to withdraw the fund as a solution to pay for nuclear waste disposal if the companies continue with their remaining claims.

Read more on the utilities’ compensation claims in the CLEW article Germany’s constitutional court backs speedy nuclear exit and the CLEW factsheet Legal disputes over the nuclear phase-out.