It often requires a disaster before the arguments against nuclear power shift from the concern over storage of uranium-based waste to a discussion regarding the baseline, everyday operational safety of nuclear plants. As of 2009, Europe had 165 operational nuclear plants. In 2010, the year before the Fukushima disaster, Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to re-new her nation's seventeen nuclear reactors. She was not unopposed as this initiative ran counter to the philosophy and policy of the previous government, the Social Democrat Green coalition of Chancellor Gerhard Schroder. It now it appears as if the government of Chancellor Merkel may lead some European nations to permanently decommission their reactors.