energy crisis
Term extension or not? Traffic light bickers about nuclear power
Shut down: the nuclear power plant in Grundremmingen. Germany is heading towards a massive energy crisis, but is sticking to its nuclear power phase-out.
© AFP
Nuclear power is increasingly becoming a bone of contention in the traffic light coalition. The Union and the FDP have appealed to extend the life of the power plants, while the Greens speak of a “phantom debate”.
In the current energy crisis, the dispute over nuclear power is intensifying: Within the traffic light coalition, the FDP is increasing the pressure for longer service lives for the remaining nuclear power plants in Germany. Group leader Christian Dürr told the German Press Agency with regard to the debate about gas supplies from Russia: “We don’t want to paint the devil on the wall. But we have to prepare for a scenario that has far-reaching consequences for private households and German industry no cubic meter of gas should have to be converted into electricity. It would therefore be right now to extend the operating times of the nuclear power plants beyond the winter.”
Gas has not been delivered via the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline since Monday due to maintenance work. This usually takes up to ten days. However, because of the Ukraine war and Western sanctions against Russia, there is now great concern that the gas tap will remain closed. FDP parliamentary group leader Dürr said: “It can happen that after the maintenance work on Nord Stream 1 no more gas flows.” Russian President Vladimir Putin does what he wants. “It would hardly be surprising if he used technical reasons to finally turn off the gas tap.”
Green top politicians reject further use of nuclear power
Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (both Green) had advised against extending the service life of the three remaining nuclear power plants in Germany, which are scheduled to go offline at the end of 2022. “A small contribution to the energy supply would stand in the way of major economic, legal and safety risks,” says an audit report from the ministries.
Dürr also said: “We should also talk about the production of gas in the North Sea. Anyone who talks about cold showers and warm sweaters in these weeks misjudges the seriousness of the situation. Ideological debates don’t help us one bit in winter when there is a risk of supply bottlenecks. ” The primary goal of the federal government must be a secure energy supply. “As sensible as it is in principle to use energy sparingly, a secure supply is now the top priority. We have to exhaust all possibilities for this.”
The Greens reacted angrily to the renewed push by the FDP on nuclear power and rejected the demand for a lifetime extension, which had also come from the Union, as a “phantom debate”. “The federal government has long since checked which energy alternatives are available,” said the deputy chairwoman of the Greens parliamentary group, Julia Verlinden, to the newspapers of the Bayern media group on Tuesday. “An extension of the lifetime of the nuclear power plants is not one of them.”
“So anyone who is now demanding a revival of nuclear power is leading a phantom debate that won’t help us,” Verlinden continued. “Natural gas is mainly used in the heating sector and in industry. Nuclear power doesn’t help us there.”
CDU leader Friedrich Merz had also renewed his party’s demand for an extension of the service life of the three remaining German nuclear power plants beyond the end of the year. In view of the energy crisis, “we shouldn’t take the opportunity to keep our power plants running in order to save gas when generating electricity,” Merz wrote in a guest article for the “Bild” newspaper on Tuesday. The Greens would have to jump over their shadow when it comes to nuclear power. There should be “no bans on thinking”.
“Do it for Germany,” Merz appealed to the Greens. At the same time, the CDU leader emphasized that the Union also wanted “the early end of old nuclear power in Germany”. In the current situation, however, the country should not deprive itself of this energy source.
Nuclear power as an important contribution in an “acute emergency”
The deputy chairman of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Lukas Köhler, also reiterated the demand to examine nuclear power as an option. You can “make an important contribution in an acute emergency,” he told the Bayern media group. Politicians shouldn’t “simply sweep them off the table”.
Köhler accused the Federal Ministry of Economics of having ruled out this possibility in March with “a rather superficial examination”. “It would be fatal if people in Germany freeze or jobs are lost because gas is needed for electricity production due to a lack of alternatives.”