“How nuclear companies circumvent taxes”
Large utilities operating nuclear power plants are trying to exchange as few fuel rods as possible this year to circumvent the fuel rod tax that runs out at the end of 2016, writes Michael Bauchmüller in Süddeutsche Zeitung. “To save money, the energy companies in Germany delay substituting fuel elements until the turn of the year,” writes Bauchmüller. The nuclear fuel rod tax charges the use of nuclear fuels for power production. NGOs have called for the extension of the tax beyond 2016, but nuclear power plant operators argue that this would render the plants unprofitable, according to Bauchmüller.
Read the article in German here.
Also read CLEW's background dossier The challenges of Germany’s nuclear phase-out.