The agency overseeing Germany's electricity network has decided against ordering the reactivation of one of eight nuclear reactors, shut down earlier this year, as a contingency plan against possible winter power shortages.
The government earlier this year asked the Federal Network Agency to determine whether one of the aging plants — shut down after Japan's post-earthquake nuclear accident — should be kept on standby as a so-called "cold reserve" over the next two winters.
The shutdown left Germany with only nine nuclear reactors in service, and those are to be shut down by the end of 2022 while the country builds up its renewable electricity generation.
The network agency said Wednesday there is enough spare conventional power capacity to do without a reserve nuclear reactor.
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