At the Isar 2 complex in Bavaria, technicians will slowly shut down the reactor from 10:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Saturday, disconnecting it from the grid for good.
By the end of the day, operators of the other two facilities in northern Emsland and southwestern Neckarwestheim will have also taken their facilities offline.
The last three plants provided only six percent of Germany’s energy last year, compared to 30.8 percent from all nuclear plants in 1997.
“Sooner or later” the reactors will begin to be dismantled, Economy Minister Robert Habeck told the Funke Group ahead of the scheduled decommissioning, brushing aside the idea of an extension.
The government has the energy situation “under control”, Hebeck assured, filling gas reserves to bridge the gap left by Russian supplies and building new infrastructure for importing liquefied natural gas.
Instead, the minister from the Green Party, which was founded in opposition to nuclear power, is focused on getting Germany to produce 80 percent of its energy from renewables by 2030.