Ted: Hello and welcome back to another episode of Babbel News – English Only. I’m Ted, language expert here at Babbel. We’ve got another news story in English, sourced from Reuters. The topic for today comes from Germany, where the last of the country’s active nuclear power plants have just been shut down.
 
Before we hear the story itself, let’s go over some of the most important vocabulary from the clip.

First up, we have the phrase “to pull the plug”, or to end something, or stop it from continuing, just like when you remove a device’s electrical cable, or plug, from the wall. And following that, there’s “to soar”, or increase very quickly above the usual level. Directly after that, you’ll hear the verb “to spawn”, which here means to cause something to develop. Then comes the phrase “to pose a danger”. If something “poses a danger”, it means it is the cause of that danger. Next we have the verb “to phase out”, or to take steps to stop something over a period of time. You’ll also come across the verb “to pledge”, or to make a formal promise to do something. Towards the end of the piece is the adjective “overdue”, which describes something that hasn’t been done by the required point in time. And your last word for today is “a cask”, a large container that is used to store and transport liquids, usually alcohol. See if you can hear what the casks from this story have inside. One hint: it isn’t wine! Ok. Now that you know the most important words and phrases to listen out for, it’s time to hear the news!

Reuters: Germany is pulling the plug on nuclear energy, ending a six-decade-long program that saw one of Europe's strongest protest movements.

These are its three remaining nuclear power stations. And this marks one of the last times steam will rise from their cooling towers. Their shutdown was set for last summer, but was delayed after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, which sent energy prices soaring and spawned fears of shortages around the world.
 
Louis Herrmann is a member of Citizens’ Forum Against Nuclear Power. "It is not simply ideological speculation. There is a very real danger that is posed by this power plant and by all nuclear power plants around the world. And that's why I think it's so particularly important that we in Germany manage to phase out nuclear power. Because if we manage to do that, then maybe the other countries will think about what they can do better."
 
Germany pledged to quit nuclear power following the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. Once responsible for a third of Germany's energy production, it made up just 6% of it last year – compared to 44% from renewables.
 
But members of pro-nuclear energy groups call the move a “huge disaster.” They say Germany will have to return to nuclear if the country wants to phase out fossil fuels and become greenhouse gas-neutral by 2045.

Keeping the plants going isn't realistic, though, according to Kasimir Buhr, an energy policy advisor at Munich's Environmental Institute.

“On the one hand, we have the safety review, which has been overdue for three years. It would take several years to do that now, which would have to be done to keep the reactors running, and we would need new fuel elements, which would also take one to two years."

As Germany’s atomic power era comes to an end, the country must now tackle another issue: where to put 1,900 highly radioactive casks of nuclear waste. That problem comes with a 2031 deadline.

Ted: Well, we’ve come to the end of another episode! How did it go? If you missed anything on your first listen, feel free to go back and listen again. You can also slow down the playback speed, or listen along with the transcript, which you can find by following the link in the episode description. And, if you have ten minutes to spare, we’ve put together a short survey so you can let us know what you think of the series. Your answers will help us know what we’re doing right, and where we can still improve! You’ll also find the link to the survey in the episode description. Thanks again for listening. I hope that you learned something new and maybe even had a little fun at the same time! Join us again next week for the last episode of this season of Babbel News – English Only! Bye!