Since the accident in Fukushima, Japan, CO₂-free electricity generation using nuclear power is being phased out in Germany. The phase-out was decided upon and enshrined in the 13th amendment of the Atomic Energy Act. At the end of 2022, the last facility operated by RWE, at the Lingen site, will be taken off the grid.

Responsibility for the interim storage of spent fuel elements was transferred to the federally owned Gesellschaft für Zwischenlagerung (BGZ) at the beginning of 2019. Accordingly, the German government is responsible for the implementation and financing of interim and final storage. The operators will continue to be organisationally and financially responsible for the decommissioning and safe dismantling of the nuclear power plants. The resulting radioactive waste is professionally packaged and then also transferred to the BGZ.