Accident in Japan prompts nuclear policy reversal

摘要

The events at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have caused an abrupt about-face in Germany's nuclear policy. Even before any details about the accident became available, Germany's opposition parties demanded the shutdown of all of the country's nuclear power plants as soon as possible. Also, with a number of state elections to be held over the next few months, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on March 14 that safety audits of all of the country's nuclear plants would be undertaken to as- sess whether the events in Japan could have any implications for the safety of Germany's plants.