After a poll loss, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday she expected a fundamental rethink on nuclear power in Germany in light of the Fukushima nuclear fire and radioactive leaks in Japan, DPA reported.
She was giving her first public comment on the Sunday vote, which tipped her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) out of power in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, one of the most conservative regions of Germany. A coalition of Greens and Social Democrats won the poll.
Merkel said she personally remained a supporter of nuclear power, but conceded the Fukushima disaster had dominated the election. She indicated changes in German policy were coming as a result, though she gave no details.
"In the next weeks we will discuss very intensively an internally consistent new energy policy," she said. "It involves very fundamental decisions about energy policy."
Merkel this month ordered the oldest seven of Germany's 17 nuclear power plants idled pending a review. An eighth plant is closed for years of repairs.