Until now, only two countries have decommissioned their nuclear power after having fully operational power plants – Italy and Lithuania. Now a third country will join that club: Germany – Europe’s economically strongest country and the one with the largest population within the EU. On Saturday, the country’s last three nuclear power plants will be closed. It was after the Fukushima disaster in 2011 that former Chancellor Angela Merkel and her government decided that nuclear power would be phased out in Germany. It is seen as one of only two decisions that Merkel made quickly and without much thought. The second was the decision to open Germany’s borders to migrants in 2015. Both decisions have been criticized, but also praised. Victory for the Green Party For the Green Party, which sits in the current coalition government, decommissioning is part of the party’s DNA. The party was founded in the 70s on three pillars: peace, the environment and a no to nuclear power. In Osnabrück, which is around 50 kilometers from the Emsland nuclear power plant, I meet the green politician Anne Kura, who throughout her adult life has worked for the power plants to be shut down. – Given the situation in the world and the energy crisis, we will not be celebrating. But for me, it is rather a relief that the chapter with nuclear power in Germany is now over, she says Germany will soon be able to become climate neutral without nuclear power, she means, with renewable energy and hydrogen power plants that take over when the sun does not shine and the wind is still. Harsh criticism from the opposition Harsh criticism comes from others. The Christian Democrats’ Jens Spahn has called Saturday’s dismantling a “black day for the country’s climate protection.” Germany will, at least in the short term, become more dependent on coal power, say Spahn and other critics – one of the most climate-destroying ways to generate electricity. On the streets of Osnabrück – which is a strong stronghold for the green parties – it is no great surprise that most people support the dismantling. But when I talk to yet another person who is rejoicing that the power plants will close, I see Anette standing and listening and shaking her head. – It doesn’t work, she says when I approach with the microphone. If we are all to stop driving cars with internal combustion engines and switch to electric cars – then you need electricity. But the critics are right now shouting into the void. After Saturday, Germany’s last three nuclear power plants will begin to be dismantled, a process that will take at least ten years. After 66 years, the era of nuclear power is over in Germany. See interviews with several politicians in the clip above.
t4-general