Were generators forced to auction mothballedplant, so that marginal power stations were spread around more owners, there would probably be more coal burned and power prices would be lower.
The North says it is reactivating the mothballed nuclear plant to make up for a shortfall in electricity caused by the ending of aid shipments of heavy oil.
The seven non-operational plants are the old reactors taken offline in the wake of Fukushima, and one is the Kruemmel plant in northern Germany, which has been mothballed for years due to technical problems.