The second largest German power company, RWE, wants government compensation after parliament voted to abandon nuclear energy by 2022, its boss Juergen Grossmann said in an interview Sunday.

"We accept the primacy of politics. But we want compensation for the financial losses caused by politics," RWE chief executive officer Grossmann told the Frankfurter Allgemaine Sonntagszeitung.

He did not specify how much his company would demand, but suggested this should be worked out by the courts.

"We want fair compensation. It's not cheap," he added.

By way of example, he suggested that the government's decision to immediately close the country's seven oldest nuclear reactors in the wake of the disaster at the Fukushima Japanese power plant had already cost his company 150 million euros.

Last month the German parliament approved by an overwhelming majority plans to scrap all nuclear power production in the country by 2022.

RWE, and Germany's largest energy company, EON, have also announced plans to sue the government for maintaining a tax on spent fuel rods despite its decision to abandon nuclear energy.

The tax was brought in last year when the government promised power companies to extend the lifetime of their nuclear reactors.

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