European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is in favor of a proposal to build new nuclear power plants in the EU. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says it's impossible.
Germany has decommissioned its nuclear power plantsImage: Christine Koenig/picture alliance
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At a nuclear summit near Paris earlier this week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the transition from nuclear energy undertaken by some EU countries as a "strategic mistake." Nuclear power, she said, is a "reliable, affordable source of low-emission electricity." She announced new EU financial assistance for nuclear power plants.
Von der Leyen's father, Ernst Albrecht, like his daughter a member of Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), was the head of government of the state of Lower Saxony in the 1970s and a staunch supporter of nuclear energy.
He failed in his attempt to establish a final repository for highly radioactive nuclear waste in the east of his state, however. The village of Gorleben, which had been pinpointed as the place where that repository was to be built, became a symbol of the struggle of hundreds of thousands of people against nuclear energy. The repository was never built.
Is Germany's nuclear exit a mistake?
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No German nuclear plants since 2023
Von der Leyen's appeal for a return to nuclear energy is meeting with mixed reactions at best in Berlin.
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From 1961 onward, a total of 37 reactors within Germany supplied up to 30% of the nationy's electricity. The country began phasing out nuclear power 15 years ago, following the disaster in Fukushima, Japan, on March 11, 2011. The last German nuclear power plant was taken offline in 2023. Spain and Austria have also announced that they have permanently shut down nuclear power.
Since then, there has been a recurring debate in Germany about whether a return to nuclear power would be sensible, given the fluctuation in the production of renewables like solar and wind energy and especially given the scarcity of oil and gas imports during international crises such as the war in Ukraine or the US-Israeli war on Iran and subsequent escalations across the Middle East.
On Tuesday Chancellor Friedrich Merz, himself a member of the CDU, said previous federal governments had decided to phase out nuclear energy and rolling back that decision was not possible. "I regret this," he said, "but it is the way it is, and we are now concentrating on the energy policy we have."
Though the CDU and allied Bavarian Christian Social Union support nuclear energy, Merz also knows that a rollback would need to find a majority in the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament. And and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party's votes would be needed to make up the numbers. Merz has said he would not work with the AfD.
Germany and nuclear power — a love-hate relationship
Nuclear power has been celebrated, condemned, and banned in Germany. As energy imports from Russia came to an end, many began calling for it to make a comeback. Here's a look at the history of a love-hate relationship.
Image: Julian Stratenschulte/dpa/picture alliance
It all began with an 'egg'
Germany's first nuclear reactor went online in October 1957 in Garching near Munich. Given its shape, it was nicknamed the "atomic egg" and belonged to Munich's Technical University. It was a landmark in nuclear research and a symbol of a new beginning after WWII. In 1961, Germany began to produce energy for civilian use. Atomic energy was seen as safe and secure.
Image: Heinz-Jürgen Göttert/dpa/picture-alliance
The pushback begins
In the 1970s, opponents of nuclear energy questioned just how clean nuclear power was, seeing as there is no safe storage for spent fuel rods. Thousands of protesters clashed with police during a demonstration against the nuclear power plant Brokdorf, in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. "Nuclear energy? No thanks," became the rallying cry for German environmentalists.
Image: Klaus Rose/imago images
'Nuclear energy? No thanks'
The danger of nuclear power soon became reality. On March 28, 1979, the plant at Three Mile Island, in the US state of Pennsylvania, had a serious accident. And on April 26, 1986, a reactor at the plant near Chernobyl, in Soviet Ukraine, exploded — causing an unprecedented nuclear disaster. A radioactive cloud spread across Europe. It was a watershed moment for Germany, with rotests gaining steam.
Image: Tim Brakemeier/dpa/picture-alliance
Birth of a new party
In 1980, a new party was founded in West Germany: the Greens. Their members were a mix of left-wingers, peaceniks, environmentalists — and a key contingency, nuclear opponents. The party made entered Bundestag, the German parliament, in 1983. Meanwhile, the Chernobyl accident prompted the creation of an environment ministry in Germany.
Image: AP/picture alliance
Wackersdorf: Tragedy and triumph
The Bavarian town of Wackersdorf was set to get a reprocessing plant for spent nuclear fuel rods, but riots broke out in protest. A number of demonstrators and civil service workers were killed, and hundreds more people were injured. Construction was halted in 1989. The German environmental movement claimed its first major victory — muted by the tragedy of lost lives.
Image: Istvan Bajzat/dpa/picture alliance
Gorleben: Radioactive waste in a salt mine
Meanwhile up north, the town of Gorleben — in the state of Lower Saxony — became a symbol of the fight against nuclear waste. The salt dome there was picked as an interim storage facility for nuclear waste. But already in 1977, a large-scale study revealed that groundwater was seeping in, corroding the barrels holding the waste. This of course posed a major risk of radioactive contamination.
Image: BREUEL-BILD/picture alliance
SPD-Green exit plans
Germany's exit from nuclear power has been marked by flip-flops. The center-left coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder intended the phaseout of nuclear energy in an agreement with big energy companies in 2001. An individual lifespan was determined for all 19 German nuclear power plants, requiring the last to be shut down by 2021.
Image: picture alliance
Rolling back — then rolling back the rollback
In 2010, the center-right government under Chancellor Angela Merkel revoked the deal and decided to extend the operating lives of Germany's nuclear power plants. But following the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima plant in Japan in 2011, Merkel abruptly announced the end to Germany's atomic era. In July 2011, the Bundestag voted to shut down all nuclear reactors by December 31, 2022.
Image: Michael Kappeler /dpa/picture alliance
Celebrating the end of nuclear energy in Germany
After years of especially intense protest, activists in the German towns of Grohnde, Gundremmingen and Brokdorf celebrated when the power plants there were switched off at the end of 2021. But the search for a safe waste repository continues. The nationwide location for a geologically suitable safe site for high-level radioactive waste is to be determined by 2031.
Image: Julian Stratenschulte/dpa/picture alliance
Should we stay or should we go?
In response to energy shortages due to the war in Ukraine, calls became louder to extend the lifespan of Germany's remaining three nuclear power plants. Green Party Economy Minister Robert Habeck (right) reluctantly agreed to put two of them on standby until mid-April. But FDP Finance Minister Christian Lindner advocated extending all remaining power stations' lifespan well into 2024.
Image: Michael Kappeler/picture alliance/dpa
The chancellor decrees an extension
The dispute between the FDP and the Greens turned into a crucial test for the German governing coalition, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the end making use of his directives authority. In a letter to the finance, economy and environment ministries, he communicated his decision: The three remaining nuclear power plants are to continue operating until April 15, 2023. Parliament may amend the law.
Image: Markus Schreiber/AP Photo/picture alliance
Phase-out completed... or is it?
When the last three reactors were switched off on April 15, 2023, reactions were mixed. Defenders of nuclear energy argue that it could help Germany meet its goal of carbon neutrality by 2045. And two-thirds of Germans surveyed favored extending the lifespan of nuclear reactors. So Bavaria's Premier Markus Söder vowed to seek a way to continue operating the Isar 2 power station.
Image: :Bayerische Staatskanzlei via SVEN SIMON/IMAGO
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SPD rejects new nuclear power plants
The conservatives' junior coalition partner, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), have rejected von der Leyen's proposal to return to nuclear energy: Environment Minister Carsten Schneider, of the SPD, saidt nuclear energy had already cost taxpayers billions. "If a risky technology is still dependent on state support after three-quarters of a century, and better alternatives have long existed, then consequences should be drawn," Schneider said.
Schneider also rejected the suggestion to focus primarily on mobile reactors, so-called Small Modular Reactors (SMRs): "These small nuclear power plants have been in the works for decades, but there still has not been a breakthrough, and there is still a struggle to secure subsidies," he said.
Markus Krebber, the CEO of Germany's largest electricity provider, RWE, recently rejected the idea of small reactors. "As things stand, an investment in SMRs is not feasible for a private company," Krebber told the newsportal Político. He said no supplier worldwide could commit to construction times at fixed and negotiated costs. Companies will not provide funding for small reactors, Krebber said..
Nuclear plants: Billion-dollar graves?
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France's nuclear alliance with 15 EU states
Many EU countries are considering expanding nuclear power. France operates 57 reactors and has formed a group of 15 EU states that advocate for new nuclear power plants. This group includes countries such as Sweden and Italy.
In Germany, the disaster in Chernobyl in 1986 prompted a rethink of nuclear energy. The Greens, founded in West Germany in 1980, campaigned heavily against nuclear power. After they entered into a government with the SPD, they successfully pushed for the gradual exit in 2000.
That was rolled back when the conservatives returned to power in a coalition with the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) and in 2010 decided to extend the operating lives of German reactors.
But the tides turned again: Following an earthquake and tsunami, the 2011 "super meltdown" occurred at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. Chancellor Angela Merkel herself oversaw the return to the exit strategy. And that decision stands to this day.
This article was originally written in German.
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