Germany approves landmark nuclear waste deal with utilities: source

The German cabinet approved a deal on Wednesday for its top utilities to start paying into a 23.6-billion-euro ($25.9 billion) fund next year in return for shifting liability for nuclear waste storage to the government, a source said. The agreement removes uncertainty about the costs of storing interim and final waste and gives investors greater clarity over the future finances of E.ON, RWE, EnBW and Vattenfall [VATN.UL]. The utilities will remain responsible for dismantling the country's nuclear plants, the last of which will be shut down in 2022 as part of Germany's abandonment of the technology, a decision triggered by Japan's Fukushima disaster five years ago.