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Germany is shutting down its last nuclear power plants on Saturday.
When Angela Merkel and her government made the decision to close in 2011, the people’s support was great.
Now, when it’s time to strike again, the debate has taken on new life.
New calls to postpone the shutdown of Germany’s last nuclear power reactors have recently come both from the opposition and from politicians in parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition.
This week they were dismissed by the German government.
– The nuclear power phase-out on April 15, which is now Saturday, is done and done, said the Chancellor’s spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann on Wednesday according to the AP news agency.
Fluctuation in public opinion
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year reignited the nuclear debate. Since Merkel’s decision to shut down had great popular support, the majority of Germans in August wanted to see an extension of nuclear power, according to a poll in Der Spiegel. 41 percent of those who answered even wanted to build more nuclear power plants.
Critics have argued that the long-planned shutdown will lead Germany to rely more heavily on fossil fuels, running counter to a pledge to phase out coal by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2045.
Investment in renewables
The last closure was supposed to be carried out as early as December 31, 2022, but was postponed due to the energy crisis that arose as a result of the war in Ukraine.
The reactors that are now clapping again have altogether accounted for around 6 percent of the country’s electricity. The closure raises concerns that the country will not be able to produce the amount of electricity needed. However, the authorities claim that the need can be met with the help of coal power, gas and the renewable energy that the government has promised to expand quickly.
Opponents of nuclear power are celebrating that the last nuclear reactors are being bombed again, and according to Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, Germany will therefore become safer, reports Tagesschau.
– With the closure of the last three nuclear power plants, we are entering a new era of energy production, she says.
Facts
Germany and nuclear power
Germany is the first major industrial nation in the world to phase out all its nuclear power. In 2001, the country decided to gradually shut down the 17 nuclear power reactors by the year 2022. The decision was temporarily lifted in 2010 but reinstated after the 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan, after which Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had previously advocated nuclear power, made a U-turn.
The old nuclear reactors in the former East Germany were closed during the 1990s for safety reasons. In autumn 2022, the government decided to keep the country’s three remaining nuclear power plants in operation until April this year due to the energy crisis in the wake of the Ukraine war.
About 70 percent of Germany’s energy needs are covered by imports. At the beginning of the 2020s, over a third of the total energy consumption was oil, a quarter natural gas, 18 percent coal, 14 percent renewable energy sources and just over 6 percent nuclear power.
Source: Landguiden/UI
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