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