BERLIN -- Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany defended over the weekend her government's decision to phase out nuclear power by 2022 and replace it with renewable energy sources, dismissing critics who said the government would never make the deadline.
Ms. Merkel made the decision nearly a year ago after a devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, caused a meltdown at a nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan. The accident heightened anxieties about nuclear safety around the world, and set off new soul-searching about the wisdom of relying on nuclear power.
Weeks after the tsunami, Ms. Merkel's government had already taken the nation's oldest eight reactors off line; it decided in June that the remaining nine would follow over the next 11 years. But members of the opposition and environmental organizations say the government has not moved quickly enough to meet Germany's target of drawing 35 percent of its energy from renewable sources. Last year, the total was 20 percent.
The critics directed much of their fire at the nation's distribution grid, which they said was incapable of transporting enough renewable energy from wind farms in the north to the industrial heartland in the south. They doubted the problems with the grid could be addressed by 2022.
"After deciding to exit nuclear energy, it seems as if Ms. Merkel's coalition stopped its work," said Sigmar Gabriel, a former environment minister and the leader of the opposition Social Democrats. "There is great danger that this project will fail, with devastating economic and social consequences."
Ms. Merkel conceded in her weekly podcast that, "of course, we need a lot of new investment" for the plan to be carried out. But she insisted that her decision was the right choice.
Legislation to expand the energy grid will be given "absolute priority" and passed in June, she said.
But even German business groups, normally allies of the chancellor, say more needs to be done. "For the energy transformation to succeed, a lot more needs to happen," said Markus Kerber, the head of the Association of German Industry. He stressed that a critical factor would be integrating the new power sources, whether wind or solar, into the existing network.
Germany also has support from its southern neighbor Austria, which voted against pursuing atomic energy in 1974 and has been a vocal opponent ever since. Werner Faymann, the Austrian chancellor, said in an interview published on Monday that he expected to see a push beginning this year in at least six European Union countries to phase out nuclear energy.
"The goal is a Europe-wide exit from nuclear energy," Mr. Faymann told the newspaper Österreich. "I expect the petition drive will start in at least six EU countries in autumn."
But not all European Union countries are as eager to end their reliance on nuclear power as Germany is. Britain and France, as well as new members like Poland and the Czech Republic, remain committed to nuclear power as energy prices rise.
So far, the switch from nuclear to renewable energy has widespread support among the German public. In a recent survey by the Wahlen research group for the public broadcaster ZDF, 76 percent of Germans said they supported the move, with the majority saying the tempo was either "just right" or "too slow." The survey questioned about 1,250 Germans and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
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