Nuclear power – younger people can probably no longer imagine what disputes there were about this technology. Grohnde, Wyhl, Wackersdorf, Gorleben – scenes of large demonstrations and sometimes almost military clashes between protest groups and the police. You can see that on YouTube today, like the otherwise conservative people from the Upper Palatinate against a recycling plant in their forest and against the CSU fought.
This Saturday, the last three power plants that are still running in Germany will go offline. A day to celebrate? Environmental movements such as the BUND or Greenpeace are calling for this. But surprisingly little is heard from the Greens. Satisfaction? If so, rather quietly. The party would probably not even exist if it weren’t for the fight against nuclear power.
But the focus right now is global warming. And in the climate movement, not everyone is sure whether the nuclear phase-out is a sensible step. Greta Thunberg expressed himself in this direction, James Hansen, veteran of climate research from the USA, even more clearly. Because generating energy through nuclear fission releases few greenhouse gases. And in the face of the energy crisis caused by the Russian war in Ukraine, didn’t Germany have to start up coal-fired power plants again, real CO₂ spinners?
Balancing one evil with the other – that’s how far it has come in energy production. Because what effort is required to shut down and dismantle a nuclear power plant was highlighted by three SZ colleagues using the Isar 2 power plant as an example. That will cost a billion euros, just for the one power plant. Planned duration: 17 years. And so far, neither supporters nor opponents nor anyone else knows what is to be done with the radioactive waste.
If there is no renewed exit from the exit in the coming years, Germany will rely on renewable sources plus hydrogen. The German Energy Agency, the Fraunhofer Society, the German Institute for Economic Research, the Federal Ministry of Economics – all come to the conclusion that this is possible. But that has never been implemented. It’s a bold plan that aims to lead to a carbon-neutral future. Also free from nuclear power. Will it work?
What do you think of the nuclear phase-out? The day is finally here – or is it a mistake? Please send us your opinion on this to [email protected]
(This text is from the weekly Newsletter climate friday you here for free can order.)