German energy firm E.ON is seeking 8 billion euros (£6.5bn) in damages following the German Government’s policy u-turn on nuclear power last year.

The utility is one of several operating in Germany to voice their disapproval over the EU powerhouse’s decision to phase out nuclear power plants. The u-turn came after a public backlash because of the Japanese disaster in Fukushima.

E.ON has already had to close two of its six nuclear plants in the country after the new rule, the German nuclear power regulation (the 13th update to the Atom Gesetz Novelle), was passed.

Operation at the four remaining plants will be phased out over the next decade: one by 2015, two by 2021 and the last, Isar 2, by 2022.

A spokesperson for E.ON told ELN it is filing the complaint against the new legislation in Germany’s highest court because it thinks the “legal basis for the shutdown was not firm”.

The change in political climate towards nuclear, alongside cash-flow problems, is one reason E.ON has given for pulling out of the Horizon nuclear power project with RWE npower in the UK.