The German government plans to phase out all nuclear power plants in the country by 2020, a decision that could cost millions of euros in losses every year for the utility industries.

“A decision has been taken to shut down eight plants before the end of this year and they definitely won’t be reactivated. And the remaining nine will be shut down by the end of the decade,” Juergen Becker, Germany’s deputy environment minister, told Reuters on Monday.

“Japan has shown that even if there is a miniscule occurrence, the residual risk is too high to justify the continuation of nuclear power…. It is better to go for other energy services in a civilized country,” he said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, has repeatedly announced that the plan has not been approved yet and that her cabinet intends to analyze the reports of two separate government-appointed commissions, one of which held its first meeting on Monday in the Chancellery.

“All of these issues [resulting from a possible nuclear power phase out] should be discussed, weighted and quantified,” Merkel said on Monday before the meeting.

The decision could cost millions of euros every year for four of the big utility companies, RWE, E.ON, EnBW and Vattenfall.

Legal Action Against German Government

German energy giant RWE is taking legal action against the state of Hesse after being ordered to shut down a nuclear power plant for three months.

The order came soon after an earthquake and tsunami caused a nuclear emergency in Japan.

RWE said the reactors were safe so the state had no reason to disrupt its energy generating activities.

The company also said the state of Hesse had no legal authority to order it to close the Biblis nuclear plant.

“According to RWE’s legal interpretation, the government has no grounds to its legal basis to take measures according to paragraph 19 of nuclear law,” RWE said in a statement.

The Biblis plant was shut down as part of an industry-wide moratorium after German Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered additional safety checks on Germany’s seven oldest nuclear power plants following the crisis in Japan.

The EU has also reached agreement on “stress tests” of all European nuclear facilities.

E.On, a rival to RWE, said it would not challenge the decision.