Germany will "probably" keep two nuclear power plants connected to the grid in the first quarter of 2023, Economics Minster Robert Habeck said on Tuesday.
He called it a "necessary" measure, saying that talks with the operators of the Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim plants in southern Germany have been completed and the key issues noted.
Germany had been set to shutter the last of its three nuclear plants at the end of year, but the war in Ukraine led to fears the country would need all available sources of energy to get through the winter.
So in a major U-turn for the centre-left government, Habeck unveiled plans earlier this month to keep two of the three plants on a sort of backup status in case they were needed.
The decision triggered debate within the ruling coalition, with nuclear opponents saying the plants must be turned off as planned and proponents arguing for their operation for potentially years more.
Habeck confirmed that plan on Tuesday and justified it, in part, by blaming the electricity situation in neighbouring France. More than half of the nuclear power plants there are currently not connected to the grid. This has led to a shortage of electricity, which Germany helps compensate for in part with electricity from gas-fired power plants.
"If this development is not reversed, we will leave Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim on the grid in the first quarter of 2023," Habeck said.
A third active nuclear power plant in Lower Saxony is not part of this standby plan and is to be shut down by the end of the year.
