Policy said to be leading to increased pollution from coal-fired power plants

The Philippsburg-2 nuclear plant was permanently shut down at the end of December. Photo courtesy EnBW.

More than 1,000 additional people are dying each year from air pollution due to Germany's phase out of nuclear power in response to the 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi accident in Japan, according to a new study.The study says the deaths are attributable to coal-fired power predominantly replacing shut-down nuclear power plants, driving around a 12% increase in local air pollution. That rise in pollution alone bears a price tag of $8.7 bn a year, more than 70% of the phaseout’s total annual costs of $12.2 bn, says the study, by economists at the University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of California at Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon University.