Germany began winding down its three remaining nuclear power plants Saturday as part of a long-planned transition toward renewable energy, drawing cheers from environmentalists who campaigned for the move, TurkicWorld reports citing Euronews.

The shutdown of the reactors Emsland, Neckarwestheim II and Isar II, agreed to more than a decade ago, was being closely watched abroad.

Other industrialised countries, such as the United States, Japan, China, France and Britain, are counting on nuclear energy to replace planet-warming fossil fuels. Germany's decision to stop using both has been met with some scepticism, as well as unsuccessful last-minute calls to halt the shutdown.

Decades of anti-nuclear protests in Germany, stoked by disasters at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima, put pressure on successive governments to end the use of a technology that critics argue is unsafe and unsustainable.