Germany will keep two of its three remaining nuclear plants available to produce electricity until April.

This is part of a back-up plan recommended by the grid operators, who conducted stress tests on the power transmission system to assess the risks to it of a possible escalation of the energy crisis, the German government said, quoted by BTA.

The nuclear power plants "Isar 2" and "Nekarvestheim 2", with a capacity of 1,400 megawatts each, and operated by the energy company E.ON (E.ON), as well as the third plant - "Emsland" were to be finally shut down by December 31 .

France wants to restart all its temporarily shut down nuclear plants by winter

However, the lives of the Isar 2 and Neckarvestheim 2 could now be extended until April 2023 to help with possible winter power shortages, the government announced.

Economy Minister Robert Habeck said the risks of nuclear technology made it necessary to maintain Germany's phase-out plan, but limited supplies of Russian gas justified the measure.

The combination of problems such as the shutdown of nuclear power plants in France, a heat wave hampering the production of hydroelectric power and problems with transporting coal by water due to low river levels could strain the country's power grid this winter, Habeck also warned.

"Because of all these risks, we cannot count on having enough power plants to stabilize the electricity grid in the short term if there are energy shortages in our neighboring countries."

The government has already announced multiple measures to import gas from various sources and reactivate coal and oil-fired power plants, while urging citizens to save as much energy as possible.

Germany

nuclear energetics