FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's constitutional court on Friday said it will rule on December 6 on claims brought by power producers that a government decision to end nuclear power earlier than planned amounted to expropriation.
Following the Fukushima disaster in Japan in March 2011, Germany announced plans to exit nuclear energy by 2022, effectively speeding up a plan first drawn up in 2002 to eventually shut all of the country's reactors.
Three utilities - E.ON, RWE and Vattenfall (VATN.UL) seek damages amounting to potentially as much as 19 billion euros ($20.73 billion) for the production volumes they say they will be forced to forfeit.
EnBW, also affected, has not lodged a complaint as it is effectively publicly owned.
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