Energy company boss says German nuclear power plants are dispensable

Essen, Germany (dpa) - The head of the energy company RWE, Markus Krebber, considers the last three German nuclear power plants still in operation to be dispensable.

"In the overall European energy supply, the good four gigawatts of output of the last three German nuclear power plants make no difference," Krebber said in an interview with the newspaper Die Zeit, published in advance on Wednesday.

He added that politicians had decided on the end of the power plants for mid-April. "We are now implementing that."

On the other hand, he said, there was no alternative to the rapid construction of new gas-fired power plants to ensure security of supply. "In future, they should stand in as a substitute when wind and sun fail," Krebber said.

"If we don't build gas-fired power plants, there will be too little electricity in such situations in the future - or we will have to keep coal-fired power plants in reserve. We don't want either of those things to happen."

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