A page of history is turning today in Germany with the definitive abandonment of civil nuclear power. The last three reactors will stop working during the day. For ecologists and environmental organisations, it’s a decades-long struggle ending in victory even if it’s not the time to celebrate, while proponents of nuclear power are also giving the voice.
with our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibault
In Berlin, Greenpeace is organizing an all-day rally in the city center. At the foot of the Brandenburg Gate, a dinosaur is on its back. On her belly we can read: German nuclear power destroyed on April 15, 2023 “. On the shield of Saint-Georges drawn up on the monster the famous slogan “ Atom Nein danke “, “Nuclear no thank you”.
Greenpeace provides various speeches on this symbolic site, in particular that of the ecologist Jürgen Trittin, Minister of the Environment from 1998, and who negotiated the abandonment of nuclear power. VSn Saturday, the big night crowd is not there. It is true that mass is said and that the weather is gray. But “ohI’m glad it’s over, explains Paul-Marie Manière from Greenpeace Germany. Now we have to push towards 100% renewable! In 2030, 80% is feasible and it is important that Germany shows that it is feasible, that it is cheaper and that it makes you more independent…”
German concerns about the energy crisis have many wondering. Six out of ten people believe that the last reactors could have been left to operate a little longer. Moreover, on the other side of the Brandenburg Gate, supporters of nuclear power, including from other European countries, are demonstrating. Even if for Germany the battle seems beautiful and well lost, ” for me, it’s not the end! assures Andreas Fischner, member of the organization Nuklearia. We are in a huge energy crisis, in France, in Germany and the only solution is nuclear power! »
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Other demonstrations are taking place this Saturday on the sites of the last three reactors which will cease to operate during the day. Nuclear opponents want to celebrate their victory on the spot.
Mobilization in Lingen on the Framatome site
In Lingen, where one of the power stations is located, the opponents of nuclear continue their fight this time against the ANF factory which belongs to the French group Framatome and which produces fuel rods for the power stations. Ecologists no longer want it and they denounce cooperation with the Russian Rosatom: for the anti-nuclear, it is unthinkable to produce radioactive fuel in Germany after the closing of the last power stations. The Minister of the Environment of Lower Saxony, where Lingen is located, appeals to his party comrade, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck and demands that the Framatome plant be closed. A decision that would undoubtedly lead to long legal disputes and compensation.
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Deliveries of Russian uranium to Lingen are another bone of contention, as is the Framatome in common with the Russian Rosatom to produce fuel for Soviet-style power plants in Eastern Europe. Russian activist Vladimir Sliwyak, founder of the NGO Ecodefense, who received the award Alternative Nobel in 2021 and now lives in exile in Germany, drives home the point: “ All Russian uranium deliveries to Lingen must be stopped immediately because all the money collected by Moscow will be used for the war against Ukraine. I hope that Germany will take such a decision! »
The regional Minister of the Environment, who must or must not authorize this project, rejects it: Don’t do business with Putin, that goes for nuclear “, considers Christian Meyer who welcomes the recent declarations of Robert Habeck in favor of European sanctions against Russian uranium deliveries.