Germany’s largest opposition party CDU and its sister party CSU say they are committed to returning nuclear power to Germany.
Germany’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and Bavarian sister party CSU plan to return nuclear power to Germany if the party wins next year’s general election.
According to the Handelsblatt newspaper the main opposition parties intend to reactivate decommissioned nuclear power plants in the event of an election victory. In addition, the parties would like to build new nuclear power in the country.
The Framatome nuclear power company confirms to Handelsblatt that at least five decommissioned nuclear power plants could be put back into use without difficulty.
The CDU and CSU see the return of nuclear power as a relief, especially for the country’s industry, which has suffered from the withdrawal of cheap Russian energy since the start of the war in Ukraine.
In addition, the parties plan to establish an investigative committee, which will familiarize itself with the economy minister of the Greens by Robert Habeck decisions related to nuclear power in 2022.
The party claims that Habeck had not properly investigated the consequences that the closure of nuclear power plants would lead to in the middle of the ongoing energy crisis.
Germany gave up nuclear power last year
Germany gave up nuclear power in 2023, when the country’s last nuclear power plant was closed.
Germany has had nuclear power plants since the latter half of the 1960s. However, nuclear power has been a divisive topic in the country, and some of the ruling parties have strongly opposed it citing the risks of the technology.
In 2011, after the tsunami damage to Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactors, the CDU, which previously supported nuclear power, Angela Merkel promised to get rid of nuclear power.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis made the Germans reconsider. However, the “traffic light government” of the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Liberal Party carried out the decommissioning of nuclear power, although a year earlier than planned.