19:21 HRS IST

Berlin, Jun 28 (AP) Germany’s oldest remaining nuclear
reactor has been shut down, part of a move initiated four
years ago to switch off all its nuclear plants by the end of
2022.

The Grafenrheinfeld reactor in the southern state of
Bavaria was taken offline as scheduled overnight, authorities
and operator E.ON said today.

Grafenrheinfeld went into service in 1981. It is the
first reactor to close since Germany switched off the oldest
eight of its 17 nuclear reactors in 2011, just after Japan’s
Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.

The next to close will be one of two reactors at the
Gundremmingen plant in Bavaria, which is set to shut by the
end of 2017. The rest will be closed by the end of 2022.

Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks said the
Grafenrheinfeld shutdown is “a visible signal that the nuclear
exit is moving forward.”

“Every nuclear power station that goes offline reduces
the so-called residual risk that is linked to the use of
nuclear power plants and moves us a step forward in the
reorganization of our energy supply,” she said.

Germany aims to generate 80 per cent of its electricity
from renewable sources by 2050.