Germany will pay € 2.4 billion to nuclear power plant operators

The German government has agreed to compensate nuclear power plant operators for losses caused by the country's withdrawal from nuclear energy. Germany did so almost exactly 10 years after the earthquake and tsunami hit the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, triggering changes in Berlin's nuclear policy. According to the DPA, according to a joint statement from the Ministries of Finance, the Economy and the Environment, nuclear power plant operators will receive compensation of 2.4 billion euros. Compensation will be paid to companies listed on the German stock exchange RWE, Vattenfall, E.ON and EnBW. Vattenfall is expected to receive the most, almost 1.43 billion euros. RWE will receive EUR 880 million, EnBW EUR 80 million and E.ON EUR 42.5 million. The Japanese province of Fukushima was hit on March 11, 2011 by an earthquake and subsequent massive tsunami waves. They caused the accident at the nuclear power plant there, the largest since the explosion of the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine in 1986. In response to the disaster, Germany later announced a retreat from nuclear power, with the last nuclear power plant due to close later this year. According to Reuters, the government has previously agreed to compensate the operators of the shut-down power plants, but the companies went to court because they considered the compensation to be insufficient. The Constitutional Court then ruled in favor of the companies in November last year.