Photo Gallery A Season of Anti-Nuclear Protests
Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to extend the lifespans of Germany's nuclear power plants has enraged anti-atomic energy activists. On Sunday, some of them jumped into the Spree River in Berlin to vent their disapproval.
A series of demonstrations in Berlin are planned against the new regulations. Here, an activist at a demonstration in front of the Berlin parliament building last Thursday.
Germany's Green party was born out of the anti-atomic energy movement in the 1970s and 80s. But there is also opposition to the new deal developing within Merkel's own party.
Many in Germany are disappointed that Merkel's new energy policy seems to have greatly benefited the country's largest power utilities. The deal could result in Germany relying on nuclear power until the middle of the decade.
Only a few weeks ago, it looked like the heads of Germany's leading power companies -- like Johannes Teyssen of E.on, pictured here -- would emerge as the losers of Merkel's new energy policy.
Jürgen Grossmann, head of RWE. While the power utilities will face a hefty fuel rod tax, donations to a renewable energies fund will be voluntary.
Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen, of Merkel's Christian Democrats, has emerged as one of the major losers of the new nuclear power agreement. He had demanded that lifespan extensions be moderate in nature and had promoted the idea that extensions be made dependent on additional safety measures.
There are currently 17 nuclear power plants in Germany. Merkel's plan, if passed, would radically alter a law passed under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to phase-out nuclear power in the country by the beginning of the next decade.
Germany's Atomic Energy Act, passed in 2002, had called for nuclear reactors to gradually be taken offline. The first reactors were already shut down several years ago. Now, however, some reactors may stay online until the middle of the century.
A protest is planned for Saturday in Berlin. A similar proteset in April, which saw a human chain from the Brunsbüttel reactor to the Krümmel reactor in northern Germany, drew 100,000 people.
The 1970s saw a wave of anti-atomic energy protests in Germany. The logo "Atomic Power: No Thanks" became omnipresent at such demonstrations.
Here, 15,000 marchers in the northern German town of Itzehoe in 1977. The Green party was one of the main beneficiaries of the protests.
