By a narrow margin, Germany's parliament has voted to extend the life of the country's 17 nuclear power plants by as many as 12 years, officials said.
The vote flies in the face of polls that show about 60 percent of the country's voters want an end to nuclear power plants, the BBC reported.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel intends to channel some of the billions of extra euros the plants earn into solar and wind power, the report said.
The decision to extend the lives of the power plants irked anti-nuclear activists in Berlin where protesters demonstrated and hung a large banner.
Greenpeace activists also demonstrated against the decision by forming a human chain around the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag.
In 2000, then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder agreed to mothball the last power plant by 2021 in response to public concerns over safety.
German Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said the vote to extend the plant's life is a bridge in the transition to renewable energy sources.
"You are stoking fears, not because it helps the people but because you think it helps you," Roettgen said of the protesters.
UPI
0 Comments