Why did Angela Merkel decide to phase out nuclear power in Germany?

Angela Merkel’s decision to phase out nuclear power in Germany was a direct response to the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in March 2011.12

Prior to this event, Merkel’s administration had actually passed legislation in 2010 to extend the operating life of Germany’s existing nuclear power plants, arguing that they were necessary until renewable energy technologies became sufficiently productive. However, the catastrophic failure at Fukushima prompted a rapid reversal of this policy. Following the disaster, Merkel pledged to shut down all of Germany’s remaining nuclear power plants by 2022. This shift reflected her characteristic political pragmatism, as she demonstrated a willingness to adopt the positions of her opponents—such as the Green Party, which had long campaigned against nuclear energy—when those stances proved to be both sensible and popular with the public.321