German court paves way for nuclear compensation claims
BERLIN — Germany’s highest court opened the way on Tuesday for potentially costly compensation claims from electricity companies over the government’s abrupt decision in 2011 to shut down several nuclear reactors and accelerate the closure of the rest.
Three big power companies went to the Federal Constitutional Court to argue that the decision following Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011, which came months after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government had agreed to extend the reactors’ lifespan, constituted expropriation.