Siemens on Sunday said it was quitting the nuclear energy business to focus on other technologies. The German industrial conglomerate confirmed remarks by Chief Executive Peter Loescher in weekly German magazine Der Spiegel that his company would continue to deliver components to nuclear plants as needed, but would not invest any more in developing nuclear energy.
A joint venture planned with Russian nuclear firm Rosatom will be cancelled.
Mr. Loescher's announcement comes months after Chancellor Angela Merkel's government decided to phase out nuclear energy by 2022, following post-earthquake nuclear disaster.
Already in 2001, Siemens had decided to spin off the bulk of its nuclear business into a joint venture with a French company.
Mr. Loescher told Spiegel in an interview published on Sunday the decision was “a response to the clear position of the German public and government.”
