Officials concluded the factories are needed because of gas shortages and can stay open without safety concerns, the Wall Street Journal reported. Germany pledged to phase out nuclear power after Japan’s 2011 Fukushima disaster hardened opposition to the technology. Berlin is under pressure to reverse course from the invasion of Ukraine to limit the impact of the gas crisis on manufacturers and households. Germany has three plants operated by E.ON, EnBW and RWE, which supply around 6% of the country’s electricity. They are currently set to close at the end of the year. Any extension has yet to be formally approved and the details remain under discussion, the Wall Street Journal added. It came as Norway warned it could do no more to help Germany avoid a gas crisis this winter as Russia cuts supplies. Jonas Gahr Störe, Norway’s prime minister, said the country was producing at “maximal” rates, having increased production by 10 percent since Russia invaded Ukraine. “We can’t just decide politically, now we offer even more,” he told Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, during a meeting in Oslo. It limits Germany’s options as it tries to find new sources of natural gas after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cut off a key source of supply.
