Germany faces backlash from closing nuclear plants 原発廃止の揺り返しに直面するドイツ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/19/germany-faces-backlash-from-closing-nuclear-plants/?page=all Meanwhile, the announced phaseout of nuclear energy already has come at a cost to the industry and the government. It is also blamed for slowing economic growth in the second quarter of this year. Engineering conglomerate Siemens announced Sunday that it is shuttering its nuclear-business division. “The chapter for us is closed. We will no longer be involved in managing the building or financing of nuclear plants,” a company spokesman told the German newsweekly Der Spiegel. Siemens is not alone. Rising energy costs already are hurting heavy industry in this country noted for its manufacturing capacity. In August, chemical producer Bayer, which employs 35,000 people in Germany and has global sales of $48 billion, issued a warning that it is considering leaving Germany because of high energy prices. Germany’s renewable-energy industry is expecting a windfall in the demise of nuclear energy. However, for now at least, Germany’s lost energy production from nuclear power is being filled by an increased use of fossil fuels - a painful irony for a green-energy policy - and by increased imports of electricity from other European countries that use nuclear energy. “Saying we can run an industrial society on renewable energy is dumbing-down the truth for people,” said Heinz Horeis, who writes on scientific issues for German publications. “Since the shutdown, we have become a net importer of electricity, and there has been no real plan. I would like to know what is going to happen come winter.”