Shutdown showdown: Utilities prepare lawsuit on German nuclear law
Germany's major energy companies have authorized a number of prominent law firms to prepare a lawsuit against the government over plans to shut down the country's nuclear power plants, the weekly magazine Der Spiegel reports.
In its Monday edition, the magazine said the energy utilities, E.on, Vattenfall and RWE, were aiming to have Germany's recently passed nuclear power law declared unconstitutional, and then sue the government for damages - a move that could cost taxpayers billions of euros if successful.
In an assessment prepared for E.on, former Defense Minister Rupert Scholz and legal counsel Christoph Moench said the German government's exit from nuclear energy production is clearly unconstitutional.
The reasoning behind the claim focuses on the amount of electricity from nuclear power that energy companies would be allowed to generate before they are shut down.
Lawyers for the companies reportedly argue that these remaining kilowatt hours - to be produced in the future - are the property of the energy companies and are therefore protected as proprietary rights of ownership by the German constitution.
However, Dörte Fouqet, an energy expert with the international law firm, BBH, told Deutsche Welle that any court case would be a long, drawn-out process.
"This is a Constitutional Court case, so it depends on what the court would regulate. It could mean that the Court tells the government that they have to improve the law, or make a new law. If the Court were to certify that there is a breach, then they would have to determine if there is a damage to be paid and what amount. So, I'm not so sure I would be on safe ground, if I were one of the three utilities," said Fouqet.
Illegal expropriation
Last month, the German government presented draft legislation to accelerate its phase-out of nuclear energy by 14 years. Eight plants have already been shut down, and the last plant would go offline in 2022.
The lawsuit to be filed would claim that the government's law grossly violates the ownership rights of the energy companies without providing an overriding reason - making it unlawful expropriation.
If successful in court, the 80-page assessment argues, the energy companies could sue for damages going into the "double-digit billions."
Phase-out law poorly crafted
A nuclear energy expert with the non-governmental organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) is convinced that the nuclear phase-out law will not stand up in court.
Preparing For Nuclear War - News
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India – Pakistan Preparing for Nuclear War | The Total Collapse
Pakistan on Friday successfully test-fired a short range surface to surface ballistic missile, HATF II (Abdali), with a range of 180 km, official sources said.
The missile can carry nuclear and conventional warheads to the target.
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India test fires N-capable missiles
India on Friday successfully tested its homegrown nuclear-capable Prithvi II and Dhanush ballistic missiles from different locations in Orissa.
Dhanush, the naval version of the Prithvi missile, was launched at about 10.30 am from a warship that was anchored off the Puri coast.
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