In one of this country’s most popular novels for young readers, the nuclear reactor on the edge of this Bavarian town melts down, spewing a radioactive cloud that threatens all of Germany and robs a 14-year-old girl of her family and her hope for the future. Last month, that nuclear power plant in Grafenrheinfeld , responsible for meeting the energy needs of industry-heavy Bavaria since 1981, came to a less dramatic but equally symbolic end. The plant became the first active reactor to be decommissioned since 2011, following Chancellor Angela Merkel ’s about-face on nuclear power after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant catastrophe in Japan. Taking Grafenrheinfeld offline is a milestone in Germany’s […]