Cold forces Germany to restart switched off nuclear plants

High electricity demands prompted Germany’s network operators to call upon nuclear power plants that had been taken off line last year but left in reserve as a "preventative measure," the daily Handelsblatt reported on Thursday.

Following last year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Germany announced plans to phase out all nuclear reactors, and closed down eight of its nuclear power plants that began operating before 1980. Nine reactors currently on line are due to be turned off between 2015 and 2022.

The five switched off reactors are functioning as reserve generators in case the country’s electricity demand cannot be fulfilled from non-nuclear sources.

The March 2011 twin disasters in Japan caused radiation leakage at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, sending panic waves to the countries depending on nuclear power.

Germany faced an electricity shortfall in December and imported power from neighboring Austria to meet the needs, but recent record low temperatures wreaking havoc across the Europe forced Berlin to restart the plants.