Germany has closed its final three nuclear power plants, marking the end of the country’s nuclear era that hasspanned more than six decades. Nuclear power has long been a contentious issue in Germany, with some advocatingfor ending reliance on a technology they view as unsustainable, dangerous and a distraction from speeding uprenewable energy.    25    The closure of the three plants – Emsland, Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim – represents theculmination of a plan set in motion more than 20 years ago.
       In the 1970s, a strong anti-nuclear movement in Germany emerged, giving birth to the Green Party, which isnow part of the governing coalition. Nuclear accidents fueled the opposition, including the partial meltdown of theThree Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania in 1979 and the 1986 catastrophe at Chernobyl that createda cloud of radioactive waste that reached parts of Germany. 
          26    But when a new government came to power in 2009, it seemed briefly as if nuclear would get areprieve as a bridging technology to help the country move to renewable energy. Then Fukushima happened. InMarch 2011, an earthquake and tsunami caused three reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to melt down. Three days later, then-Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Germany would accelerate a nuclear phase-out, witholder plants shuttered immediately.
       Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, however, provided another plot twist. Fearful of its energy security withoutRussian gas, the German government delayed its plan to close the final three plants in December 2022. Some urgeda rethink. The government agreed to keep them running only until April 15, 2023. 
          27    “It is a great achievement for millions of people who have been protesting nuclear in Germany andworldwide for decades,” Paul-Marie Manière, a spokesperson for Greenpeace, said.Germany plans to replace the roughly 6% of electricity generated by the three nuclear plants with not onlyrenewables, but also gas and coal.    28    
       While some critics of Germany’s policy argue that it’s irrational to turn off a low-carbon source of energy asthe impacts of the climate crisis intensify, supporters of the nuclear shutdown argue it will ultimately hasten the endof fossil fuels. Germany has pledged to close its last coal-fired power station no later than 2038, with a 2030deadline in some areas. It’s aiming for 80% of electricity to come from renewables by the end of this decade. 
          29    “Germany’s phase-out of nuclear power is a historic event and an overdue step in energy terms,”Simone Peter, president of the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE), said.
【題組】25.
(AB) For those in the anti-nuclear movement, it’s a moment of victory.
(AC) In 2000, the German government pledged to phase out nuclear power and start shutting down plants.
(AD) Representatives for Germany’s renewable energy industry said the shutdown will open the door for more investment into clean energy.
(AE) The Japanese government is unsurprisingly using the uncertainty around energy security as a reason to proactively push its nuclear energy policy.
(BC) More than 30% of Germany’s energy comes from coal, the dirtiest of the fossil fuels – and the government has made controversial decisions to turn to coal to help with energy security.
(BD) Others see closing down nuclear plants as short-sighted, arguing that it would mean turning off the tap on a reliable source of low-carbon energy when drastic cuts to planet-heating pollution are needed.