German official rules out return to nuclear energy

BERLIN, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Germany will never return to nuclear energy, a senior official said Friday, adding that the country will find a permanent national storage site for nuclear waste by 2030.

Environment Minister Peter Altmaier made the remarks on the newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung to counter doubts on the German government's determination to end the use of the nuclear power.

"I cannot see any plausible political line-up that would enable a revival of nuclear power in Germany," Altmaier said.

Altmaier also said the government would meet the deadline by 2030 of find a permanent storage site for nuclear waste, adding that the country-wide search would be jointly conducted by Germany's nuclear energy companies.

Berlin decided in 2011 to replace the nuclear power with renewable energy following the Fukushima disaster in Japan. According to the German government, the country will quit nuclear power completely by 2022, while 80 percent of Germany's electricity will be produced by green power sources by 2050.

However, there have been complains that rapidly expanding renewable energy is too expensive to support. Germany's surcharge on renewable energy will rise by 47 percent in 2013, Germany's four leading grid operators said in October, forcing its citizens to pay more for the country's promotion of green energy.

According to the four grid operators, the additional cost on electricity bill for renewable power would be increased from 3.6 euro cents per kilowatt hour this year to 5.3 euro cents in 2013.

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