(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN, OCT 18 - Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday ordered all three of Germany's remaining nuclear power plants to stay operational until mid-April, breaking an impasse that had caused a rift among his coalition partners as an energy crisis looms. Germany initially planned to exit nuclear power by the end of the year, but Russia's war in Ukraine and skyrocketing power prices since then have forced a rethink. "The legal basis will be created to allow the operation of the nuclear power plants Isar 2, Neckarwestheim 2 and Emsland beyond December 31, 2022 until April 15, 2023," Scholz said in a letter to cabinet ministers seen by AFP. Economy Minister Robert Habeck from the traditionally anti-nuclear Greens had recently said two of the three plants would be kept "on standby" until next spring, to help secure energy supplies if needed, in a major U-turn for the Greens. (ANSA-AFP).