Deciding to turn off all nuclear power plants within a few years as a response to the Fukushima accident was probably the biggest mistake the German government made in the last decade, and one of the reasons we're reliant on coal so much right now. The decision was purely emotional as well, as unfortunately much of the environmental politics here is. It's sad that we lost our position as one of the leading countries in Europe regarding renewable engergy (baring smaller Skandinavian countries with lots of natural energy resources) and are now a laggard that's reliant on brown coal for our energy needs.<p>Addendum: I'm not against turning off nuclear power plants (I think we should eventually), I just don't agree with the time frame we chose for this. Letting plants run for a few more years wouldn't significantly increase cumulated accident risk and would have a significant effect on our CO2 emissions.